Storing food: the danger zone
When food is between 38°F and 140°F (4°C and 60°C) it's considered in the danger zone, and bacteria are growing on it quickly. USDA guidelines say that no longer than two hours in the danger zone is acceptable. This applies to anything that should be refrigerated, including raw meat and cooked food (leftovers). Additionally, if it's over 90F (32C), they reduce the guideline to just one hour.
Killing pathogens: cooking temperatures
When cooking meat, cook it to the recommended temperature for that particular kind of meat. See for example the USDA's temperatures for various meats. These are conservative guidelines, but they'll make you safe. The common ones:
- Poultry: 165°F (74°C)
- Pork: 145°F (63°C)
- Beef, veal, and lamb: 145°F (63°C)
- Ground beaf, veal, and lamb: 160°F (71°C)
Different meats have different potential hazards. Most bacteria is killed by heating it over 145°F (63°C), but some things are much harder to kill, so it's important to use the appropriate temperature for what you're cooking.
And of course, once it's cooked, there may be some things that survived, or are reintroduced to the food, so you still have to follow the two-hour danger zone rule above.
Toxins
Even if the bacteria is dead, toxins can remain if the food was out too long, causing problems. No matter how thoroughly you cook something, it won't make up for bad handling. (Also asked and answered here). For more details on killing bacteria and the hazards of the toxins they leave behind, see the many answers to this question.
Botulism
Botulism is anaerobic (it grows without oxygen) so it's often a concern for canned goods, or things suspended in oil (e.g. garlic in oil). Some further information from http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_fs.html (°C values added)
The majority (65%) of botulism cases are a result of inadequate home food processing or preservation (CDC 1998). Botulism results from ingestion of a toxin produced by the bacterium C. botulinum.
This bacterium requires a moist, oxygen-free environment, low acidity (pH greater than 4.6) and temperatures in the danger zone (38-140°F / 4-60°C) to grow and produce toxin. C. botulinum forms heat resistant spores that can become dangerous if allowed to germinate, grow, and produce toxin.
Sufficient heat can be used to inactivate the toxin (180°F / 82°C for 4 min., Kendall 1999). C. botulinum thrives in moist foods that are low in salt (less than 10%), particularly when they are stored at temperatures above 38°F / 4°C.
These organisms will not grow in an aerobic environment, but other aerobic organisms in a closed system can rapidly convert an aerobic environment to an anaerobic environment by using the oxygen for their own growth, permitting growth of C. botulinum.
Nowadays foodborne botulism kills about 10 to 30 people a year in the USA, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
You are worrying too much. Pasta has been made with egg for hundreds of years. While the tools may have changed a bit, the process remains the same. There has been some actual scientific research on the amount of time salmonella can survive on stainless steel and other dry surfaces. You can google specifics. It is generally assumed that moist environments are more favorable to growth and sustainability. So, if you use a wet sponge from your sink, you are more likely to contaminate a surface from that, for example. In any event, the general consensus is that salmonella survives 1-4 hours on dry surfaces. One study in the International Journal of Food Microbiol. 2003 Aug 25;85(3):227-36.Survival of foodborne pathogens on stainless steel surfaces and cross-contamination to foods. Kusumaningrum, Riboldi, Hazeleger, and Beumer, transferred salmonella to stainless steel using a kitchen sponge. Salmonella enteritidis was recovered from surfaces for at least 4 days at high contamination levels, but at moderate level, the numbers decreased to the detection limit within 24 h and at low level within 1 h.
Practically speaking, you are going to make pasta then freeze or cook, rendering it safe. You'll dust off your pasta roller and put it in the closet for a while. It will be safe. Don't let this keep you from making your own pasta.
Best Answer
Far be it for me to give medical advice as I am NOT a doctor, but the likelihood that the mold you encountered was toxic is pretty small and I would not be worried. That said, if you were to start developing any kind of symptom, your best place to ask about it would be your doctor and not on the internet ;)
The presence of black mold doesn't guarantee that it is of the kind that everyone fears to find in their homes, and even if it was it doesn't mean that there are mycotoxins present and that you should be worried. Toxic mold can actually come in a variety of colours, and isn't limited to one genus/species.
I have also thrown out plenty of 'science experiments' from my fridge that required me opening containers to clean them out with very questionable looking growths of mold, and have experienced no actual illness, despite how my stomach might turn based on the smell.
As for bacterial concerns, unless you got some of what was in the bag into an open wound or mucous membrane, you have nothing to worry about there.
For reference, I studied microbiology in college and worked in biotech for a while before moving to 'greener' pastures. I've also done research specifically into black mold as we had a concern in my previous house.