Reheated rice - would you eat this?

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Made jambalaya last night. Took out of oven and it sat on the side for about four hours, then I put it in the fridge. Is this ok to eat, reheated properly?

How long can rice safely be out of the fridge?

Yes I would eat it. Am Indian and would often leave plain boiled rice out of the fridge overnight, and use it as an ingredient in another cooked dish the next day. The food poisoning issue isn’t because of reheating leftover rice - it’s because people in the West don’t really reheat it properly and often just bung it in the microwave so it reheats patchily. Leftover rice needs to be cooked again in a new dish and you need to make sure each grain is piping hot.

We've never cooled rice quickly/been re-heating it for nearly 60 years (we're Chinese) and so far never been ill from it...

Agree with @GrumpyHoonMain

I would too...am always making risotto, biryanis, other general rice meals and have no idea how much rice to use so always have leftovers.

I leave it to cool on the side (kitchen is a bit baltic though) box it up at the end of the evening, and into the fridge and then the freezer in the morning
Dh loves a pingy rice leftover dinner instead of sandwiches!

I think it's keeping rice warm for ages, and/or inadequate reheating that's the main issue for that terrible rice food poisoning rather than slow cooling of a properly cooked meal.

it’s because people in the West don’t really reheat it properly and often just bung it in the microwave so it reheats patchily. Leftover rice needs to be cooked again in a new dish and you need to make sure each grain is piping hot

This is a common misconception. Rice poisoning is caused when there are bacteria spores in the rice. If cooked rice is left for a while at a nice warm temperature these spores will grow into bacteria, multiply and produce toxins. Neither the initial spores or the toxins will be destroyed by heating or reheating. It really is cooling quickly that is important, rather than the cooking.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/

You have to be very careful with rice. It contains a poison (arsenic?) which can be activated by eating rice that is more than 24 hours old and/or has been reheated. I definitely would not risk it.

Yes I would eat it, I wouldn’t even give it a second thought.

Is it possible that modern rice is heat treated, irradiated or something else to kill these deadly spores, so there isn't really a risk anymore?

I reheat rice at least once a week, don't 'cool quickly' whatever that means and if it's a leftovers lunch at work, it spends several hours unrefrigerated on the shelf in my office before I eat it. And I fully admit to half arsed microwave reheating.

And I have never been poisoned by rice, or anything else for that matter, save for a prepacked prawn sandwich about 30 years ago.

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine - if that were true then India and China’s populations would not be as big as they are. A lot of people (even quite affluent people) don’t bother with fridges at all there if they eat fresh. But rice can be very expensive in Asia so they can’t really afford to waste it.

I wouldn't, but my DP does this a lot & he lives on.

Yep, it's fine. I've done it loads of times and never been ill.

How DO you cool it down quickly ?

No. Not because it's reheating rice, but because you didn't cool it quickly.

I wouldn’t hesitate to eat rice described as you say.

I’ve only ever heard of rice being the cause of certain death on MN. Not saying it’s not true, just think maybe people are a little over cautious.

Absolutely not. If I make paella we take what we want then I decant into another dish (as we use a cast iron pot that retains the heat) and it goes straight in the (beer) fridge

&QOD put the cooked rice in a sieve and run the cold tap over it, then straight into the fridge.

@QOD ^

We always reheat rice and have never had any problems.

I'd eat it-done that thousands of times and never had a problem.

No, not rice, too risky.

No-one seems to believe me on here, but the pains I had from eating reheated rice were worse than 5cms dilated. Awful.

I do this all the time. Never reheat rice for the baby but wouldn’t think twice about me and DH.

Like many iffy things I would eat it myself but would not give it to my toddler. From now on though I will be running cold water over leftovers as suggested above.

I would.....but I often play fast and loose with many so-called "rules" regarding food/sell-by dates/reheating, because I hate waste.

I just reheated and ate some spiced red cabbage left over from Christmas Day lunch.

Just make sure you nuke it when you reheat.

I would. In my student days, and occasionally since, I've left post drinking dodgy takeaway out all night and reheated it next morning. Let alone with rice that wasn't dodgy to start with.

Plus pretty much everyone I've ever known from an Asian background does this regularly, but never seem to have any horror stories about anyone ever getting ill.