its common, I know many people that do, I however am not comfortable with leaving any food out , especialy in the summer. ( I don t feel its safe)

utterly

My family has been doing that for years, and I've never seen any problem with it.

As far as I know as long as you go through butter fairly quickly it should be fine. I personally do not do it but I know plenty of people who do.

Here is an article about it. There is very little to worry about leaving butter out on the counter, although we do not recommend the practice. Butter is made from pasteurized milk, so unless there is gross contamination after pasteurizing (which almost never happens) the butter gets to your house in very safe condition. Butter has very little water in it (about 20% which is not much in the world of food) and it has a fair amount of salt in it (about 5-10% in the water portion) so there is little danger of pathogen growth. Butter can support the growth of molds but it usually takes several weeks and ideal conditions to occur. I am not aware of any outbreak of food-borne illness associated with butter in the past 20 years. There are some older cases, usually with unpasteurized butter, causing outbreaks of Staphylococcus aureus. This is a mild, flu-like disease that is almost never life threatening. However, my recommendation is to store butter covered in the refrigerator between meals. It will significantly increase the shelf-live and virtually assure safety. On the other hand, do not worry too much about your family’s health related to un-refrigerated butter. http://missourifamilies.org/quick/foodsafetyqa/qafs649.htm

According to this website published by the Nibble, a monthly food magazine, you shouldn't leave butter out on the counter for more than 3-5 days. http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cheese/butter/butter-tips.asp Don't forget that answers to this question and more can be found at the reference desk of your local library. Check out your local library's website to email, call, or you can even just stop in.

I like soft butter on the counter too. You can buy a butter crock at cooking supply shops or online, and it helps preserve your butter for a few weeks.

My mum just leaves her butter out on the dining table. She never puts in in the frigde. I bring my own butter when I visit her. She says I'm being too fussy by refusing to eat her unrefrigerated butter. Personally, I would think butter would go bad after a few days out, but it hasn't hurt her yet to eat it.

We leave our butter in a covered dish on the counter. However, we use a lot of butter, so it's never there for long. I keep the rest either refrigerated or frozen until we need to refill the dish.

we always have our butter in the fridge never ate it when it was outside of the fridge so i dont know

We keep the stick we are using on the counter with a covered dish and have done it for years. We have never noticed a problem.

It is very safe, especially if you use a butter bell. If the weather isn't too hot the butter will stay nice and spreadable and not melt all over. Butter light get rancid a bit quicker at room temps in the humid summer but it's not unsafe. It takes quite a while for it to get rancid however.

I grew up with butter on the table in a butter dish, and have done this for 50 years without a problem. You must use SALTED butter. Unsalted will go rancid long before salted butter. If you use a stick of butter every 3-5 days, it's ok to leave it out.

I have never had a problem with leaving butter in a covered dish on the counter for as long as I have used it. It never stays on the counter long enough for it to go bad.