A viral TikTok** warns people of the dangers of reheating rice.
There's a dangerous germ killer lurking in your reheated fried rice – at least, that's what you might think after watching one of the latest viruses shared on TikTok and other social platforms. There is some truth to this statement, and you should try to store leftovers properly, but the risks of the so-called "fried rice syndrome" should not be overstated.
Stories of fried rice syndrome pop up online every once in a while, most recently in TikTok**, which was released last week by cooking and household goods company Food52. In **, food editor Emily Ziemski discusses the culprit behind this syndrome – Bacillus cereus". According to Zimsky, the basic point of ** is accurate.
Tenacious bacteria
Bacillus cereus, a close relative of the anthrax bacterium, is a well-known cause of food poisoning. Strains of Bacillus cereus that cause disease produce many toxins when they are actively growing and these toxins can actually make people sick. There are two main forms of foodborne cereus disease with slightly different symptoms. One scenario is that once the bacteria enter the body and infect you, you get sick from the toxins produced by the bacteria; In another case, you will get sick from ingesting toxins that have already been produced.
Bacillus cereus is ubiquitous in the environment, especially in the soil, so they can easily get into our food**. While they can be contracted from a variety of foods such as dairy, beef, and vegetables, the illnesses they cause are often linked to reheated rice and other leftovers, and for good reason. These bacteria can morph into spore-like shapes and survive in harsh environments, including cold and hot temperatures. Once the conditions are ripe again, they begin to grow and produce toxins in large quantities. As a result, cases of illness are often associated with improperly stored food.
A common scenario is this: You leave a bowl of uneaten rice on the kitchen counter for hours that is somehow contaminated with Bacillus cereus spores. During this time, the bacteria break free and thrive. If people eat this food on the spot, they will become infected and will soon get sick from the toxins of the bacteria. Even if they reheat the rice to kill all the active bacteria, there is a special heat-resistant Bacillus cereus toxin that stays in the food and makes us sick.
According to expert guidelines on Bacillus cereus prevention, foods are in a "danger zone" for contamination when they are left alone for long periods of time at temperatures ranging from 5 to 57 degrees Celsius (41 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit). Therefore, hot food that needs to be stored for a period of time should be kept at a temperature higher than this temperature range, and in general, cooked food (especially meat) in leftovers should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours.
At the same time, TikTok's ** may leave you with the impression that leftovers will inevitably make you seriously ill if left out for too long, which is also not entirely true.
A real but modest nuisance
First, while the typical symptoms of Bacillus cereus disease are unpleasant (nausea, vomiting, cramping, or diarrhea, depending on the type of infection you have), they are relatively mild, and most cases resolve on their own within a day. Bacillus cereus can also cause serious or even fatal illness, but this happens rarely and is usually in specific situations, such as in people with weakened immune systems. The severity of a case can also depend on a number of factors, such as the amount of bacteria or toxins a person ingests. For example, in a notorious case that came to renewed attention last fall, a 20-year-old man was believed to have died from eating pasta contaminated with Bacillus cereus, which was left at room temperature for up to five days before being reheated.
This is also not particularly common in the United States. According to a 2011 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that there are approximately 63,000 cases of foodborne Bacillus cereus in the U.S. each year, as well as 20 hospitalizations** (the study also estimated that the average number of deaths per year is zero, but this can still happen from time to time). By comparison, one of the most common foodborne infections** – norovirus – is thought to cause about 5.5 million cases of food poisoning each year.
All in all, Bacillus cereus disease can and does occur often enough to be a real public health problem. Contrary to the speculation of many commentators on Food52's TikTok and other social ** posts, people are not immune to rice-loving regions of the world, such as Asia.
For instance, according to a 2020 study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Bacillus cereus was the fourth leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks between 2003 and 2017 and is the known culprit in the country. Another article** published last year found that from 2010 to 2020, there were more than 400 outbreaks of Bacillus cereus in China, resulting in at least 7,892 cases, 2,786 hospitalizations, and five deaths.
As for why some people would readily believe that no one gets sick from eating leftovers, the answer may be simple. Stomach pain and other stomach symptoms are common features in life. Unless it's a particularly severe case of food poisoning, it can be easy to forget the mundane events that happened to us or our loved ones, and even mistakenly blame eating the wrong meal when we remember.
So, yes, you should pay attention to how you refrigerate and heat your food, especially if your health condition makes you more susceptible to foodborne infections. You should definitely throw away the takeout boxes that have been sitting on the kitchen counter for five days. But, unless in extreme cases, there's something more deadly than your usual bowl of reheated rice.
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