Here’s Why You Should Never Leave Cooked Rice at Room Temperature

Did you know that rice can be left at room temperature for no more than 1-2 hours? To avoid dangerous poisoning and very unpleasant symptoms, rice must be cooled and stored in the refrigerator immediately, otherwise you risk making Bacillus cereus happy, a bacterium that loves cooked rice left at room temperature. Its toxins can cause: vomiting (after 1-5 hours) or diarrhea (after 8-16 hours). It is the infamous fried rice syndrome.

Why You Shouldn't Leave Rice at Room Temperature

When you cook pasta or rice, the heat kills most bacteria, but not the spores: they are a sort of “armored” form that resists even high temperatures. These spores remain dormant… until they find the right environment to “wake up” and multiply, that is: room temperature for several hours. So even if you cook the rice well, the spores of Bacillus cereus survive the boiling and stay there, nice and quiet and if you leave the cooked dish at room temperature for too long, they wake up, multiply and start producing toxins. And those toxins are no joke. There are two:

• one causes vomiting, even in 1-5 hours
• the other diarrhea, after 8-16 hours

Do not underestimate the problem, although a healthy adult can easily defend themselves from these toxins, if they are not in excessive quantities, in some cases they can cause severe dehydration, and if it affects children, the elderly or fragile people the situation can become complicated.

What is "Fried Rice Syndrome"?

Bacillus cereus infection is also nicknamed "fried rice syndrome" because many cases of poisoning have occurred after eating rice left at room temperature for hours, and this could happen in buffets or take-aways.

The Rules for Preserving Rice at Its Best

So goodbye rice salads? Of course not, just follow these simple rules to avoid all this:

• First very simple rule: do not store cooked pasta and rice at room temperature.
• Second rule: how do you store them? Pasta and rice should be put in the fridge within 1-2 hours of cooking. But be careful: they should not be stored while still hot, otherwise you risk raising the internal temperature of the fridge, forcing it to work harder — therefore a higher bill — and compromising the preservation of other foods. So cool for a maximum of a couple of hours at room temperature and then immediately put them in the fridge.
• Third rule: consume within 1-2 days.

For those who want to take their own tray of food to work or to the beach, there are cooler bags.