Why is it dangerous to reheat rice?

[LinkyPlease]

Inspired by theeftover takeaway thread, why is it so dangerous to reheat rice?

Firstly if I buy from eg a takeaway / restaurant I'm pretty sure a lot of the time it will be reheated, they won't cook all rice fresh, so is it that I'm reheating for a second time at home?

If I cook fresh at home can I therefore reheat it once?

And if I zap it in the microwave / steam /oven it thoroughly surely it will kill any bacteria so be safe again? Why are rice bacteria any more resilient than other bacteria?

I've never understood this.

Am old flatmate once left rice out overnight about three days in a row and ate it cold and finally on the last day he got really ill for 24 hours, but I've no experience of rice being this great poison in the rest of my life, and I've reheated a lot of rice! Leftover rice reheated with frozen peas then grated cheese mixed in is one of my greatest easy meals. And we always order too much Indian / chinese so we can have leftovers the next day mmmmmmmmm

Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium 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.

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

It's not bacteria with rice, it's the spores of a fungus, Bacillus cereus. If it's on it and grows at room temperature, it can cause illness.

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

Oo snap!

The toxin isn’t a bacteria, it’s spores of Bacillus cereus that can survive reheating.

If you’re going to reheat rice, rinse it before cooking, cool rapidly after cooking and refridgerate within an hour. Takeaway food, you can’t be sure this has been done, so the risk is much higher.

Exactly, reheating kills the bacteria but not the toxins

Bacteria AND/OR toxins can make you sick!

Boil it all you want, you can still get sick

Yes, you can reheat cooked rice, as long as it’s not been standing out at room temperature for a long time before refrigeration.

Firstly if I buy from eg a takeaway / restaurant I'm pretty sure a lot of the time it will be reheated, they won't cook all rice fresh, so is it that I'm reheating for a second time at home

^ exactly this. You can reheat rice once. The issue is that the takeaway has already almost certainly already done this (they don’t cook rice fresh for each order) so you’d actually be cooking it for a third time. And that’s where things get into food position territory.

Isn’t it to do with how it is cooled? If you leave it to go to room temperature there is a risk of becoming ill, but if it is cooled quickly (ice water then in the fridge) and reheated the risk is reduced I believe. I am not an expert though so don’t quote me....

Reheating cooked rice you've made at home is fine if you do as pp said re rinsing and rapidly cooling.

I've had rice poisoning.

Was 100% not worth it

I found this really hard to believe when I first heard it too - it feels like there’s nothing in it to make you sick! But apparently warm rice is the perfect breeding ground for a really nasty bacteria. I just chuck all rice now if it hasn’t been eaten (which is unlikely around here!); for the price it’s not worth it.

Please don't reheat rice.
My husband made some for me (he is the cook in this house) and I was violently iIl for 4 days, Could barely move except to run to the loo, I didn't eat for 2 weeks and had a severely reduced appetite for another month. In total it took nearly 4 months to return to normal and I lost almost 5 stone in weight (luckily I could afford to lose it!!)
I dread to think of one of the kids had eaten it.
He rarely reheats food and will never again after how illl I was.

You can reheat rice you can't leave it lying around at room temperature before refrigerating it. See link from the NHS.

So long as you properly cool and store it then fully reheat it there's no worry. It's just when you can leave a pizza out overnight and just shove it in the oven for 2 minutes and be fine people assume you can just do the same with rice

Some takeaway rice smells like it's been washed in some sort of bleach as they are paranoid about food poisoning.

I also know with ready meals factories were they cook rice are sterile environments. Even though the rest of the process can be screwed up.

I reheat rice and have been doing since childhood. I've never had food poisoning from rice but have had from meat once.

You need to cook it Indian style - ie washing the uncooked grains, soaking, and then after cooking pouring out the water. This gets rid of most of the fungus, any creepy crawlies, and arsenic. Means you can even keep rice in the fridge for up to 7 days provide you reheat it properly - I’ve been making rice and reheating it this way since I was 9 years old. Have yet to get anything from it.

Microwave fires

I'm with tinytoucan, (again no medical or scientific background) but I think if cooked rice isn't cooled super quick then nasty bugs grow and multiply which then cannot be killed by any amount of fierce reheating.
I'm sure someone will be on soon to explain this properly.

For the reasons above (breeding ground for bacteria). One of the reason why its particularly bad is because of the surface area to volume ratio- ie its lots of small bits means that most of the rice is exposed to the air (and therefore perfect for bacteria who need oxygen to reproduce). If you had say, a potato, that wouldn't be as good a breeding ground because theres less exposed relative to non- exposed bit .
Same for mince vs steak

People reheat rice all the time. Look at any ready meal with rice and it is cooked rice that is going to be reheated. This is considered perfectly safe and big food retailers wouldn't sell it like this if it wasn't.
Reheating rice from a takeaway would be less safe as it has probably already been reheated and possibly kept warm, then you have cooled it down slowly while having dinner.

Thanks for all the info! I normally refrigerate it quite quickly after deciding not to eat it right away, so maybe that's why I haven't got ill yet. Must admit a few days at home relieved of cold duties does sound a tempting way to lose a couple of stone, but five might be a bit much, plus I'm up to date with most of my boxsets and not sure what's on my watch list, so I'll give that a miss

Its nothing to do with reheating. Its all about the cooling.

I got food poisoning from reheated rice on holiday. It is not pleasant and I honestly couldn't eat rice for about 2 years afterwards!

By the way a spore forming bacteria is not the same as a mould that gives off spores. It's a type of bacteria that can go into a dormant, seed like state with a tough protective casing that will survive prolonged boiling or other tough conditions.

I've been reheating rice and not flash cooling it for years and can't say I've gotten I'll in anyway I remember... But maybe I have and haven't attributed it to the rice 😅 that said, this is good advice. I'll rapid cool it after cooking from now on.
Thanks for the thread!