cooked rice being left out on side.

[wakeupandsmellthecoffee]

ok mini rant , but tell me if Im wrong. my DS has cooking next week and risotto (using long grain rice )
He has to bring in precooked chicken to add to said rice and sweetcorn,mushroom and stock .
My problem is ,if the finished dish is l put in the fridge when the rice is still warm I am seriously concerned about Listeria (food poisoning )
So tell me am I worrying for nothing .

It's leaving it out that would cause a problem, not putting it in the fridge.

The advice not to put hot things in the fridge is because it raises the temp and stops everything else in their being cold enough.

You can't get listeria from putting risotto in the fridge.

ok not having a pop but I thought that if you put say a casserole sized dish of warm risotto in the fridge because its still warm in the middle the bugs would start multpling and this would cause the food poisoning.

the longer the food remains at room temp, the more likely the bugs will multiply. It should be cooled as quickly as possible, then refrigerated, kept cool during transport, reheated as quickly as possible and then eaten, and not reheated again. Though, if the chicken is pre cooked, that would contravene the 're heat only once' rule. Its called the cold chain something or other (kids learnt it during food tech GCSE) and teacher should know about it. Not sure how it can be acheived, really....ask the teacher.
But putting the rice in the fridge, itself, is not the problem.

Rice that is not cooled properly is notorious for causing food poisoning. I'm not sure if it is listeria though. I had food poisoning from rice once and was very poorly.

I wouldn't eat it, and any way it can't be reheated if it has precooked chicken in it, that has already been reheated once.

The fridge will cool it down. Left on the side is where they will be multiplying!

its bacillus cereus you would get from rice.

" because its still warm in the middle the bugs would start multipyling"

But if you leave it out of the fridge it stays warmer for longer!

confused.com

I would spread the rice out as much as possible, preferably on a large cold flat plate (you can put plate ahead of time in freezer/fridge to get icy cold), cover it with cling film and then put it straight away in the fridge.

Turn fridge to a colder setting a few hours in advance, so other products in fridge don't get too warm once the cooked rice comes in.

Alternatively put the rice in a large deep tray once cooked, place the tray in a sink full of cold water with ice cubes added. Leave it for about 15 minutes and then transfer rice to plastic box and pop in fridge/freezer.

ok so rice is cooked
pr cooked chicken is added to rice with stock and other stuff..
so if the dish with warm rice and pre cooked chicken in is put in the fridge whilst still warm and then REHEATED at home is this ok . (Im thinking its not ok )

There is another thread about rice going on atm in food. It explains quite a lot if thats any help, can't link sorry.

also we are talking about year 9 (13 yrs old ) taking responsibility for food hygene .

thanks brandy any idea what topic its in .

If the pre-cooked chicken is being reheated with the rice and stock, then it shouldn't be reheated again later when he brings it home.

Really the teacher should be getting them to cook the chicken at school!

The rice will be fine to be reheated later, so long as it has been kept refridgerated.

get a dish of icey cold water and put the saucepan over it, this will cool it very quick

I believe rice has to be cooled to refrigerator temperature within an hour of cooking for it to be safe to reheat. As Headless says, I'd be more concerned about the chicken being reheated twice.

A lot of the things the DCs have cooked at secondary school seem to be about chopping and throwing things into a pan.

FWIW I think they should spend more time on learning how to make shortcrust pastry, flaky pastry, cakes made with the creaming, melting and whisking method, arrowroot glazes, roux sauces, making bread from scratch, marzipaning, flat icing and piping a Christmas cake. I learnt all these skills at school.

I think piping a christmas cake may be going a bit far, but agree they ahould be learning to cook from scratch (ie raw, unprepared ingredients) not just throwing stuff together. DS had to make a crumble using 'a jar of pie filling' ffs not in my house!

Brandy sorry just read that its in food topic.

LOL thats ok. It's the thread about the teacher if thats any help.

I think they should be learning to cook basic meals to feed themselves, about economising, healthy eating, where food comes from etc. Start with spag bol & chilli, stir fries & other fairly healthy & straightforward meals. I could have done with a lesson on how to chop and peel things safely to start with too. I remember taking ages to peel an onion and being not quite sure where to start when I was 12.

I think they should learn about how to tell when things are off, what to look for when buying fish and meat, different cuts and what they're good for etc. And also probably learn about food safety which I suppose would not allow for reheating chicken twice!

I'd eat it though, butI do all kinds of crazy things like reheat takeaway rice that's been on the side all night with no ill effects so far.

And why are they calling mixing cooked chicken with cooked rice "risotto"?

Hazelnut don't even go there.Lol.
I phoned school and spoke to food tech lady and basically made out that I was pretty much guessing that DS had got his information wrong (not)
she did say that rice was going to be put in food fridge and agreed that he could make a veggie rissoto .
So happy now as not wasting money as it would have gone on the bin.Lol.

There is another discussion on AIBU today about the dangers of cooked rice, it's title is
"To think that this is dangerous, and a home economics teacher should know better?"
Glad you sorted it out with tech lady.