Reheating Food Safely

A lot of microwave users merely warm their food to eating temperature.
It is important that food is made hot enough to kill germs.

I always microwave a plated meal at least 5 mins on full power (my oven is 650 watt)

soups and stews need thorough stirring as well.

I think microwaves can reheat food safely but a lot of people don't use them correctly

If you can take the food from the oven without using an oven glove to hold the plate you probably didn't heat it enough

This makes sense. Microwaves do not actually apply heat, they excite the liquid in the food, which generates heat. This happens pretty quickly, and possibly too quickly to have an effect on contagions.

Conventional cooking takes time to penetrate and even out inside the food, resulting in a longer exposure time for the nasties.

You'll get much better, much more consistent results if you reduce the power and increase the cooking time.

For example, I make my own TV dinners in those Glad Sandwich containers, cooking in bulk and making individual meals. Then I stick them in the freezer, so I have lunches to go for work.

To reheat, I put them in the nuker for 5-7 minutes at power level 7, rather than full power. Usually, I'll set the food on the edge of my desk to thaw a bit, so I can lower the cook time to 5 minutes. This heats the food much more slowly and all the way through, AND it doesn't dry it out or make it explode all over the place.

You can even reheat meat this way, but you'll want to keep a close eye on it, lest you cook it too much and turn it into a good bicycle tire patch.

Personally, I wouldn't sweat it. If you cooked the food in the first place that should have provided whatever germ-killing goodness cooking can give. If you refrigerate what's left that should prevent what bacteria remain from multiplying quickly. Use what's left reasonably promptly and you should be fine. If you leave it in the refrigerator until it's gray-green and fuzzy and you can't tell what it was, all bets are off, however. :D

If you want my crackpot opinion, I think we worry about this stuff far more than we should. You can't have a burger unless it's cooked to a cinder. Heaven forbid you should eat an egg with a runny yolk. Got to stay inside and away from that filthy soil and dust and pollen. Never mind that our ancestors back to Hypothetical Adam and Eve were eating rare meat and runny eggs, and hardly ever ran into problems with them-- or that our sanitized, sheltered children develop asthma more than their forebears who actually dared to play in the mud. And, in fact, may be developing asthma BECAUSE they're sanitized and sheltered.

Might I refer you to a favorite poem of mine?

http://www.bartleby.com/104/50.html