Have you ever brought home leftovers from a Chinese restaurant to enjoy the next day?
If you included rice in your take-home container, you may want to reconsider.
Reheated rice could be a quick path to getting you a nasty case of food poisoning.
Why You Shouldn’t Reheat Rice
No one likes to waste food, which is why so many people bring home their leftover rice to eat the following day. Few think of rice as being a food likely to cause food-borne illness, but it is, especially if it’s improperly handled.
Raw rice may contain spores of bacteria called Bacillus cereus. These spores form to protect the bacteria from heat and other outside influences, and they aren’t easily destroyed – even by cooking. Even though Bacillus cereus spores aren’t readily eliminated by cooking, eating rice is unlikely to cause food poisoning if the rice is kept hot before serving – and not allowed to set around on a counter at room temperature. If this happens, the spores can germinate into active bacteria. For this reason, rice should always be served immediately after it’s prepared.
The Most Dangerous Leftovers was originally published on blackdoctor.org
