food on stovetop

[qpaulina42]

Hey,
I have one of those paranoid emet questions. I made a lovely dinner last night - white rice and a sauce to go with it (canned tomatoes, red beans, some spices, onion etc, no meat). This was around 6:30pm. Well we had dinner and we fell asleep! I then woke up at 4am or so and put the left overs away. But they had sat out there all this time! They smelled fine and look so good I want to have them for dinner but I am not sure. Any thoughts?

[californiagirl]

Hmmmm, don't know about this one. If it were me personally, I'd throw it out, since it was sitting out at room temp for 9-1/2 hours. It's not like it was only a couple of hours, where I'd say it'd probably be ok. It may be fine, but I can't tell you that.

[daffodil]

I have always heard that the rule is if it's been out for more than 2 hours, to throw it away. Better safe than sorry.[img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

[dreamer]

No, no, no, no, NO! It's been at room temperature for too long, and there's a particularly bad form of food poisoning you can get from rice that's been lying somewhere warm. I definitely wouldn't risk it.

[sweet]

Yep.... chuck it. I read that rice is to blame for a lot of fp cases.... Before everyone gets worried it is re-heated rice that has not been stored properly that causes the fp!!



Copied from webpage:

Q) I've heard that reheating rice can cause food poisoning. Is this true?

A) It's true that you could get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. But it's not actually the reheating that's the problem – it's the way the rice has been stored before reheating.

Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. Then, if the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these toxins.

So, the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria, or the toxins they produce, could stop the rice being safe to eat.

It's best to serve rice when it has just been cooked. If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) and keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating.

Remember that when you reheat any food, you should always check that it's piping hot all the way through, and avoid reheating more than once.


Edited by: sweet

[wonderwhen?]

My family is really bad about leaving things out for crazy amounts of time. They wonder why i never get sick and they always do.

[qpaulina42]

Well, thanks for your advice. I refused to eat the food but the
ever-courageous boyfriend ate the left overs and he was perfectly fine.

[daffodil]

Wow! My hubby would probably do the same. I always marvel at what he can eat, and not get sick. He hardly ever washes his hands, either, which grosses me out. He says that by not washing too much (like I do) he has built up an immunity to germs. I wonder if he has a point, but I'm not going to stop washing!

[Girlygirl1980s]

There isn't a guarantee that you will get sick from eating food that sat out more than two hours - there's a possibility. And for me being an emet, I would definitely not eat food that sat out that long. My in-laws do that all the time, and it drives me crazy! I refuse to eat at their house anymore!