Rice requires careful holding after cooking, otherwise Why Eating Leftover Rice Can Be Dangerous reheated rice can cause food poisoning from Bacillus cereus, whose spores survive heat
If you prepare food or buy food with the intention of saving for consumption in the following days, you should know that leftover rice can cause food poisoning by Bacillus cereus if not stored correctly after preparation.
While raw rice grains can be stored for a long time without spoiling when stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark, dry place, rice that has been cooked has a short shelf life and requires careful storage .
Why Eating Leftover Rice Can Be Dangerous
Raw rice may contain Bacillus cereus spores, which can survive even when the rice is cooked. Leaving cooked rice at room temperature, even less than two hours, makes the rice unsafe to eat.
“If the rice is left to sit at room temperature, the spores can turn into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and can produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea”, according to the UK National Health Service (NHS).
Spores take a very short time to reproduce, McGill notes that a B. cereus colony can double in size in 20 minutes if kept at 30˚C. The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more dangerous it is to consume.
Medical research
The NHS indicates that eating rice containing Bacillus cereus bacteria can cause vomiting or diarrhea within 1-5 hours. Symptoms usually around 24 hours.
Cambridge University notes in an article that several outbreaks of food poisoning attributed to Bacillus cereus have been associated with cooked rice, usually from Chinese restaurants and takeaways.
How to avoid getting sick from eating leftover rice
One way to avoid getting sick from B. cereus is to try to eat the rice as soon as possible after cooking it. Boiled or fried rice should not be stored in dangerous temperatures where bacteria can multiply rapidly, between 40°F and 140°F.
For later consumption, after boiling, the rice should be kept warm (140°F or higher) or cooled rapidly and transferred to a refrigerator, ideally within 1 hour. Divide the rice into shallow containers so it cools faster.
The NHS recommends keeping rice in the fridge for no longer than 1 day until it is reheated. When reheating the rice, make sure it is completely hot and do not reheat the rice more than once.
Source: eldiariony
