How this checker works
A narrow, explainable checker for a small set of common food situations—not a guarantee that food is safe.
From your answers to a result
Your answers are checked against predefined food-safety rules based on official guidance for the selected country. The checker returns one of four results: within current guidance, act now, discard, or cannot confirm. The rules are fixed and reviewed over time; generative AI does not make the food-safety decision.
Which official guidance applies?
United Kingdom results use Food Standards Agency guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Food Standards Scotland guidance for Scotland.
United States results use applicable federal guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, and FoodSafety.gov.
The checker does not substitute guidance from another country or jurisdiction when the required evidence is unavailable.
Conservative site policy
Sometimes official guidance gives a cooling or display window without stating an exact discard point. In those cases, this checker takes the more cautious option and clearly labels that as our interpretation—not as a quotation from an authority.
What “cannot confirm” means
This is a valid safety result, not a technical error. It means information is missing, the situation is not covered, or suitable guidance for the selected country or jurisdiction has not been confirmed. Smell and appearance alone are not proof that food is safe.
Choosing a check
If you are not sure what happened, the checker can help route you to one of its supported food-safety scenarios. This helper only helps with navigation; it does not make a food-safety decision.
Jurisdiction handling
For the United Kingdom, the checker distinguishes England, Wales and Northern Ireland—where Food Standards Agency guidance applies—from Scotland, where Food Standards Scotland guidance applies. These are jurisdictions, not separate checker scenarios.
The United States uses its own federal source pack. US date-label meanings and food scope can differ materially from the UK approach.
What this checker covers
United Kingdom
- Food left out after cooking or buying hot
- Chilled food left out after refrigeration
- Selected chilled picnic and buffet food
- Use-by and best-before dates
- Fridge storage for properly cooled cooked leftovers
- Reheating selected cooked leftovers
- Defrosting supported foods
- Cooked-rice handling within the relevant supported checks
United States
- Supported cooked or perishable food left out after cooking or purchase
- Refrigerated cooked leftovers
- Supported frozen-food defrosting methods
- Reheating selected cooked leftovers
- Refrigerated perishable food left out after chilling
- Picnic, party or buffet holding of selected perishables
- Federal date-label interpretation for supported products, including the supported infant-formula Use By check
Not supported yet
- Fridge storage time after food was cooked by its use-by date
- Eggs after their best-before date
- Power cuts
- Baby food
- Infant formula situations other than the supported US Use By date check
- Food recalls
- Allergies
- Unusual raw meat situations
A routing helper can help users find a listed scenario when they are unsure. It only navigates; it does not make a food-safety decision.
How guidance is reviewed
We record which country or jurisdiction and topic each official source applies to, when it was last checked, and when it should be reviewed again. The checker only gives a definite result when the relevant rule and official source are ready to use.