Preserving rice for one or two days later..safety questions!

[take-away!]

my friend cooked some boiled rice for dinner, then left what he didnt eat for usage the next day... he had left it warm at room temperature for roughly 2 hours (including eating time-roughly 10 mins!) before putting in fridge..


1 - is this safe? some websites state to never leave it out to cool for more than 1 hour, yet some fried rice recipe websites say to never leave it for more than 3! very confusing...


2 - he left it out for just under two hours, yet it was still slightly warm (fault-using a very small deep bowl for the extra rice)-so I said it would be best to just run the rice under the cold tap, rinse the water out, then transfer it to the fridge.. he tried his best to get rid of most of the water, then put it in the fridge. Is this safe, or does it need to be completely dry/not moist at all in order to transport to the fridge?


3 - perhaps most worryingly of all, no cling-film for the bowl, so he ended up putting a small plate on top of the bowl to cover it completely.. its bigger than the size of the bowl, but im sure there is very small space between both-will it be safe for usage within one or even two days time?

there are so many sites stating the dangers of cooked rice, so I thought these three questions were vital to get answers to! thanks

 

[Selkie]

Yes, it's still good.

 

[jennyema]

2 hours is probably ok.

Strangely enough, improperly held cooked rice can make you very sick.

Bacillus bacteria can infect it.

I once had pretty disasterous diahrrea during a golf tournament after eating fried rice. It was horrible.

Make sure you hold cooked food, including rice, at over 140 or under 40, within 2 hiours after cooking it.

 

[take-away!]

thanks!

ive managed to get hold of a tupperware box for flatmate, instead of a plate over the rice-i thought that might be better is the sealing/covering of rice whilst in a fridge a very serious aspect-would it still be safe to eat if it was kept in the fridge, yet uncovered?

Ive noticed that the rice is still very moist-ive heard you can keep rice in the fridge for a long time, but I wondered how long it would take for it to dry out, especially if kept in tupperware?

 

[Alix]

Rinsing it isn't really going to help at all. Moisture in the tupperware is not going to be a big issue. The real issue is the temperature you keep it at. Don't keep it for too long, just a couple of days or so.

It should still be safe though, it wasn't out too long.

 

[jabbur]

As far as covered or not would depend on what you want to do with the leftovers. If you want to do a fried rice/stir fry type dish, leave it uncovered and stir it every now and then. That will dry it out some and break it up so you have nice individual grains in your dish. If not using it that way, covering it will keep it moister and softer. I don't think it matters as much safety wise as much as temperature does.

 

[madcitypaul]

I would think that the ingredients with the rice could help keep microbes at bay. I mean some recipes call for a decent amount of vinegar to be cooked with the rice... that would help keep it safer, along with other herbs or spices like basil, cinnamon, and more likely, garlic and turmeric, and hot peppers.

As I was writing this post, I ran across this article, which is an interesting read about spices and food spoilage:
Study: Antibacterial spices in food

 

[roadfix]

We routinely eat plain steamed rice the following day after it's been sitting in the rice cooker at room temp from the night before. Or we would use it to make some fried rice.
No one in my family has ever gotten sick from this.

 

[GB]

And how do you know that no one has ever gotten sick from doing that roadfix? Food poisoning can take many forms from headaches to diarrhea to muscle aches to many many other things. And it can take 3 days before any symptoms appear. So if you or your family had ever had any of those symptoms then it is possible that you had mild food poisoning and didn't even realize it.

You may want to rethink your practice of letting it sit out for a day and then eating it. Rice is one of the most common sources of food poisoning.

 

[roadfix]

And how do you know that no one has ever gotten sick from doing that roadfix? Food poisoning can take many forms from headaches to diarrhea to muscle aches to many many other things. And it can take 3 days before any symptoms appear. So if you or your family had ever had any of those symptoms then it is possible that you had mild food poisoning and didn't even realize it.

You may want to rethink your practice of letting it sit out for a day and then eating it. Rice is one of the most common sources of food poisoning.

Good point GB. Any of us could have been experiencing mild symptoms of poisoning all these years and never realized it. Now that we have small grandchildren several days during the week at our house we will immediately cease this practice.
Thank you!

 

[CharlieD]

Actually rice is pretty dangerous thing. It is even worse than row chicken. Ine has to be very careful with it. That is not to say that I haven't left rice for couple of hours on the counter, but have to be really careful.

 

[roadfix]

I did not realize how serious this was. But like I mentioned, I will change my habit.

So since I posted last on this subject here I spoke with a couple of my Asian friends and they both told me they routinely consume left over rice that were left in the cooker at room temp overnight.......and their parents do the same. Come to think of it, my mother used to do the same thing while I was growing up in Japan. Perhaps this is something your body gets accustomed to?

 

[Chopstix]

So since I posted last on this subject here I spoke with a couple of my Asian friends and they both told me they routinely consume left over rice that were left in the cooker at room temp overnight.......and their parents do the same. Come to think of it, my mother used to do the same thing while I was growing up in Japan. Perhaps this is something your body gets accustomed to?

Ditto in my family. Yep, I would think this is how most people in Asia do it.

 

[GB]

There are also people who have driven for 40 years without a seat belt and never had a problem. It is that one time you get into a serious accident that it becomes an issue.

You are a smart man roadfix, for reconsidering your practices. It is very possible neither you or your family have ever gotten sick from doing it, but the chance is always there. Better safe than sorry is how I see it.