Rice Can Cause Food Poisoning?!

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
Watching a cooking show this morning the guy cooking said, "remember rice can be poisonous so cool it as quickly as possible after cooking." I have never heard of that and believe he is off his rocker.
 

It is true - rice can cause food poisoning.
Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. The spores can survive when rice is cooked. If rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea.

Cooked rice should only be kept in the fridge for no longer than 3 days. I do not eat fried rice in a restaurant.

No amount of reheating will kill the spores.
 
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I read that you have three days to eat rice before you run the risk of food poisoning. I used to think it was safe to eat rice up to like ten days or so, which is probably the case since I never got at all sick eating rice after it sat in the refrigerator for a week or longer. But now I'm afraid to eat it after three days. I think you can freeze it.
 
Irwin said:
I read that you have three days to eat rice before you run the risk of food poisoning. I used to think it was safe to eat rice up to like ten days or so, which is probably the case since I never got at all sick eating rice after it sat in the refrigerator for a week or longer. But now I'm afraid to eat it after three days. I think you can freeze it.
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You can freeze cooked rice, but defrost in fridge when ready to use.
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He might be referring to arsenic content in rice. Rice can have an arsenic content. That does not mean that arsenic content rises to a level that is at all dangerous.

you can Google articles about it.

Here's one:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/arsenic-in-rice


If I remember, on occasion some brand of rice had a higher arsenic content and caused a few problems here and there. By problems, I mean on the level of stomach aches, not something more serious. But, you know, if you did get minor medical problems from rice with a higher arsenic content, I do think you are supposed to get rid of that brand of rice.
 
With respect to all the posts here I have been eating rice in every form and never got sick. Actually, I have been sick from bad chili (throwing up sick) when I was a kid and upset stomach from spicey Middle East lunch. Then there are some folks that get sick from the slightest thing in food.
 
I don’t cook rice often, never more than I can use by the next day, and never gave it any different treatment from other leftovers. Anyway I’m more likely to cook a processed form, like some of the Uncle Ben products.
 
Generally, I have kept it refrigerated after cooking and used within a week. Never a problem. But our frig is close to freezing, so that helps a lot. If you have a warm frig, spoilage is greatly accelerated.
 
Irwin said:
I made rice for my lunch burrito bowl and froze the leftovers. When I reheat it, I'll post whether or not it had weird texture or taste after being frozen.
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when you freeze an item, a vegetable, it freezes the cellular fluid. That expands the cell and breaks the cell wall.

Basically, makes the food mushy by doing so.
 

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