food safety

last night i got food poisoning for the second time in a year. remarkably and also terrifyingly, both instances were born of my personal home cooked cuisine. is new york just a place where things spoil fast or am i a harbinger of my own death?
the first time, the poisoning was admittedly not my fault, as i had bought some tainted loose packaged lettuce from the nasty grocery down the street. my luck, and i was down for about 2 days. i will never eat unpackaged greens again.
this time, i ate some pasta that i had had unrefridgerated all day, eating it for dinner because i did not have time for lunch. i didn't think that eating pasta that had been in tupperwear all day would be bad- i have lived a long life and had never poisoned myself on "old lunches" ever. the pasta didn't even have meat or dairy product in it and also had lots of garlic that is supposed to kill bacteria. sadly last night was my turn to learn my lesson about old lunch.
Old Lunch is no longer acceptable.