Deirdre from Mill Valley wants to know if her ham is OK to eat as leftovers. Leftover ham can keep in a refrigerator for 3-4 days. Your refrigerator temperature should be 40 degrees or below. Reheat your ham leftovers at 325 degrees until the internal temperature (if a fully cooked fresh ham) reaches 165 degrees.

Food safety experts recommend not eating, or freezing your ham within 3-4 days as a rule of thumb. Before deciding on whether to keep or toss it, consider the following:

What kind of ham did you bake?
If it was a fully cooked whole ham, you have more time (Hormel sugests up to 7 days). If it was a fresh ham, you have less storage time (4 days). If was a “cook before eating” ham, then you have 5 days. Generally, Hormel and the USDA are very good sources of information on food safety as well as our chefs.

Regardless, proper storage of your ham is essential. Did you store your ham well?

Did you refrigerate your ham within 2 hours of preparing?
Was your ham very fresh when you purchased it?
Did you wrap your cooked ham tightly? Was it airtight?
Was your ham stored in the coldest (usually the lowest, back corner) of your refrigerator?

There are many factors to consider but the safest is always to toss meats if you are unsure.