I don't buy imported foods, at least to the best of my knowledge. I also do not buy any mass produced foods, from Smithfield or any other company. I certainly do not buy ANY mixes or prefab box foods. This country is just as deplorable in their food practices as any other. I have talked with many a farmer who left the USDA way of farm life because much filth is allowed while the inspector is sitting there. Bad things are alowed in feeds, the farm conditions are filthy, and people think eggs are fine because they are run through disinfectant water full of feces. The cracked ones sitting in that filth are sold to go in cake mixes. Do you really think workers at a factory farm care? They don't. They don't care if a child dies due to contamination. Read some of Joel Salatin's books. They are an eye opener, and due to his wonderful sense of humor, a delight to read. We vsited his farm in Virginia last fall. What a wonderful place! A well run cattle or chicken farm, where the animlas are allowed to be happy animals and are rotated on fresh pasture daily, DOES NOT SMELL. At all. The meat and milk taste fresh and sweet.The cheese is not the rubber stuff the stores sell. Better yet, make your own cheese from local fresh milk. It's a fun past time. So if the masses want cheap food, buy it, and eat it, I don't care. It only exists because they don't care enough about themselves and support it with their dollar. Make a nice meal for family and guests out of pure basic ingredients, and a roast or hamburgers from a local organic farmer. If you're a vegetarian, make a nice lasagna from cheeses you made youself and sauce you cooked from scratch and simmered all day. It's some effort but make enough for the freezer and you have easy meals for other days. Serve them a cake actually made from scratch and not a grocery store or box. They will rave about your meal, probably over eat a little, and ask to come back soon for a visit. Smithfield? Yuck!

* A handy reference on the amount of bacteria that you can kill at different temperatures and cooking times is here: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/Oa/fr/95033f-a.htm?redirecthttp=true * I clean raw foods mostly with just water. I try to at least get any obvious layer of bacterial material to wash off by feel under running water. My general feeling on other techniques for cleaning raw food is that they either do far less than the people using them believe (e.g., vinegar will not kill many types of pathogenic bacteria) or for the ones that do work well - like oxygen bleach - I worry about ingesting that and killing off valuable gut micromes. You have to balance all of these issues of safety and convenience, and it's really hard to do this accurately. I have chosen to go with convenience. * I will confess that I eat a LOT of raw eggs and have never had a problem with them. Only in raw form do you get some of the nutritional advantages. This is by far my biggest food risk for pathogens. I have yet to get a single episode of indigestion. So even for high risk activities like this, the risks are actually pretty low. * For reasons I have never understood, oysters - even well cooked - cause me to throw up. Always. I'm not sure if that is some bacteria that survives cooking or if that is some other chemical agent that cannot be cooked away.

Hey, you did come on over! Thanks for the ingredient list, BTW. My opinion after seeing the ingredient list still stands, I wouldn't hesitate to eat that cake. Thank goodness, it would be a shame to throw away cake, LOL. I used to own a bar and grille and took all the Food Safety classes. They used to say that 4 hours in the "danger zone" was the magic number. Now they've found that the danger zone temps aren't as accurate as they would like them, some bacteria won't grow above 122F (safe zone was 140F and above) although a few will, times and temps depend on ingredients and preparation methods, there are tables and charts now instead of just "4 hours between 40F and 160F". Reading your recipe, though, it's still a cake, albeit a gluten free cake. My opinion is still that it's just fine. Oh, and welcome to the Cooking Forum. Annie

A basic cooler will keep something cold or hot for hours. Safely. We do it all the time for BBQs(hot) and frozen foods. Think your basic travel mugs. Hot coffee 2 hours later, iced tea in the summer...ice still solid cubes. If you are not sure about your coolers insulation, test it. (there is foam in the layers usually.) The manufacturers know what they are doing. No need to build your own. Put a towel in the bottom, then some newspaper, or cardboard...then a pot of hot water or tea kettle. Test the temp, then again in an hour, then two hours. Or four... Hot food will be safely hot for a long time. Depending on your cooler. I've never needed longer than 2-3 hours so not tested more than that...but I have traveled with a solid block of bagged cod frozen for four days and it was still solid. (dropped the block on a rock when home and put the frozen bagged portions into the freezer). Hot food above 140. Magic numbers are 40-140. Cold food under 40, hot food above 140. Cook your turkey to almost done 160. Covered, not crispy roasted yet. Cheese cloth butter soaked on the breast maybe. (foil over). Find a pan that fits your cooler over a towel and newspaper. Breast side down, (all the juices Weill keep the breast moist) cover with parchment/foil, then newspaper, another towel ...temp may drop to 155-160 in two hours. Safe temp. Oven roast half hour 375 ish when you arrive. Breast side up uncovered to brown. You can pre-heat your cooler with a pan of hot water or kettle if nervous. But you have an instant read so you can check it. Seems a bit of a pain-in-the-but though rather simple thought through the process and having it all ready to go.