Food poisoning - settle an argument

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

My 16yo reheated some meat paella (chicken) for lunch today. Took a bite into a piece of chicken and said it wasn't very warm so I told her to put it back in the microwave. Husband said I was being ridiculous and that 'you don't have to heat something up til it's hotter than the surface of the sun' to make it safe to eat.

4 hours later, I think she has food poisoning. Diarrhoea, dizzy, stomach cramps and clammy/sweating. He's still bloody saying it can't be the chicken and maybe it's coronavirus?! Please tell me I'm right.

I always giggle at the rice shouldn't be reheated thing. Do you think all restaurants and fast food places cook rice portion to order from scratch? No.

Op, it can be anything. It could be the chicken, the rice (though imo you cooled and chilled quickly enough), it can be something she has eaten yesterday. Or breakfast. I agree with pp though. 1 bite of the chicken should be fine. It is also wholly possible that it's just one of reaction and it's not poisoning at all.
Hope she feels better soon

I've only had food poisoning 3 times in my life and for me its only been a few hours after eating and I'm wretching my guts up. Last time was caused by the precooked Uncle Bens veg fried rice that I didn't heat properly. (Thats was when I found out how dangerous rice was). Since then I've always eaten my leftovers cold to save that risk.

Yeah, we boil rice and put it in the fridge for making fried rice later that day. It is cooled quickly with cold running water then put into the fridge in a covered bowl

It's the time left at room temperature that's the issue with rice, not the reheating of it (although you should reheat until its piping hot)

She hasn't eaten anything else today - no breakfast. And we all ate the same yesterday. Only difference is the reheated paella so that's all I can think it could be.

If the food is OK to eat cold, then why would partially heating it be a problem?

If it's not OK cold, then obviously it has to be a complete re-heat.

One tiny bite of chicken is very unlikely to cause food poisoning.

I imagine it's coincidence and she has a bug.

If the food is OK to eat cold, then why would partially heating it be a problem?

Because bacteria thrive in warm environments. Eat it from the fridge and it's cold and therefore safe. Eat it when it's mildly warm and the bacteria have had a chance to grow, but it's not gotten hot enough to kill them properly.

But surely bacteria aren't growing to harmful amounts in the three minutes between it being cold and partially warm? Sitting out at room temp for hours, sure. But how much bacteria is realistically going to grow in the few mins of going to the fridge and being taken out of the microwave? It seems unlikely to me.

When conditions are favourable such as the right temperature and nutrients are available, some bacteria like Escherichia coli can divide every 20 minutes. This means that in just 7 hours one bacterium can generate 2,097,152 bacteria. After one more hour the number of bacteria will have risen to a colossal 16,777,216. That’s why we can quickly become ill when pathogenic microbes invade our bodies.

microbiologyonline.org/index.php/about-microbiology/introducing-microbes/bacteria

Though I highly doubt one bite of chicken could cause food poisoning, it's not hard to get it. I remember watching The Food Inspectors (or similar) on the BBC once and they said in the UK there were approximately 20,000 cases of food poisoning each week.

I agree with lots of other posters. It is probably the rice in the paella, not the chicken.

I'm glad you find a poorly child amusing @nickygurr78