VERIFY QUESTION

We cut through the fiction and spread the facts in this Monday's VERIFY question about a food we'd love to hate: butter!

Good Morning Show executive producer Alan Kirkland explained when he was a child, his mother always refrigerated butter. When he went to a friend's house, he was surprised to see the butter sitting out on the counter. He asked us to VERIFY: does butter need to be refrigerated?

VERIFY SOURCE

To VERIFY, we consulted:

• The Food and Drug Administration
• Southern Living Magazine
• The Spruce

VERIFY PROCESS

The FDA's food safety refrigeration page mentions nothing specifically about butter but urges consumers to refrigerate seafood, eggs and produce within two hours of sitting in room temperature.

Southern Living explains most research proves butter can stay on the counter in room temperature for up to three weeks.

Our third source, the reputable food blog the Spruce, explains bacteria that causes food poisoning usually requires a protein-rich environment to multiply. That's why you can leave an onion on the counter but not a steak. Butter is mostly fat, containing only three to four percent protein. So, it can stay on the counter in room temperature for about three weeks.

That said, rancidity is caused by exposure to oxygen, light and heat, so keep your butter in a butter dish with a lid. Just make sure the lid is not clear.

What about margarine or "butter spreads?" It might be OK left out for a night or two, but various food blogs say margarine can lose its taste, shape and texture if it sits out, so follow the instructions on the brand label for refrigeration.

VERIFY CONCLUSION

You do not have to refrigerate butter, as long as you keep it at room temperature -- preferably in a butter dish with an opaque-covered lid. It'll last only about three weeks, so put a stick out at a time, not a whole pound.