Eating reheated rice may pose serious health risks

It’s important to take care when storing food in the correct conditions, as keeping food at the wrong temperature can lead to health problems. Dr. Esteban Contreras (@dr.estebancontreras_) explained the situation on his Instagram account, where he assured that some people would die from not keeping food properly.

It’s about rice because doctors assured that “some people died after eating overheated rice”. Strange as it may seem, the fact is that the toilet posted this information on the Internet, which collected cases of these people who died or suffered serious health complications from consuming hot rice.

You may have heard that rice loses its texture or flavor if reheated, but you may not know that it can be so toxic. The problem comes when you prepare the rice and take it out of the fridge, i.e. at room temperature for over an hour. At this point, a bacterium called “Bacillus cereus” proliferates and releases spores stored on the surface of the rice.

They are far from being eliminated when the rice is heated up again, and even when reheated, they resist the heat because they are thermostable. If this problem arises, bacteria can cause the classic picture of gastroenteritis, although in many cases they are underappreciated or have nothing to do with rice.

Then there may be fever, chills or tachycardia: “These are symptoms of possible sepsis in the body,” he said, which can manifest as liver necrosis. “Remember, take it out of the refrigerator for no more than an hour,” recalls the doctor.