Dude,
No need to yell is right.
In the first place, the basic rules of food handling safety aren't mine. I didn't make them up, I just wrote about them. It's not a personal attack on you or anyone else. No one is calling you dirty or unsafe. No one is saying your food is unwholesome. If that's what I wanted to say, I'd say it.
Tim brought the issue of food safety up, I explained it a little. If you want to yell at someone yell at Tim. He's tough. On the other hand, I'm sensitive. In tears at this very moment, actually. [snuffle]
Personally, I find all of this stuff interesting from a "science" standpoint. You may have noticed I like science. Admittedly "food safety" can get a little overboard but the things we're discussing here are all very main-stream.
The idea that cooked meat will not spoil is wrong. More precisely the idea that cooked meat canl not spoil during a slow re-heat is also wrong. Because all (or most ot the endogenous bacteria was killed, does not mean exogenous bacteria won't arrive on any one of a number of vectors. The most likely of which is cross-contamination.
Any time you create a lot of surface area, as in "pulling" pork, you increase the risk of later contamination. The "ground meat" model may not be entirely accurate, but it's just a model, isn't it?
The vinegar in a "Carolina" type sauce won't slow many bacteria for the sort of processes under discussion. Overall pH is way to neutral. From the micro-organism standpoint the sauce is mostly just another set of food supplies.
My personal opinion is that unless you're dealing with people in the "very group," or cooking for the general public, or suspect that the food has previously been handled or will soon be handled in an iffy sort of way (left out on a buffet table, for instance), there's a lot of latitude. The better the food safety handling along the rest of the chain, the more freedom you have at any given link. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to eat pulled pork that was reheated at 200. However I wouldn't want my mother who is both very old and very sick eating it. Would she get sick? Hell, I don't know! Would her risk increase? Yes. Greatly.
If you ever have the chance to take a food safety class, it's an interesting few hours.
Chill,
Rich[/i]