Last week I indicated that all signs showed that the Japanese Yen to U.S. Dollar exchange rate would probably continue to favor the USA. That is, for travelers to Japan to get more value for the $. Well, it's beginning to happen, as the Yen dropped to its lowest level since 1986 against our dollar today, and traded at 160.39.
About the topic of the day, I am a Japanese American, and rice has been my staple now for more than 80 years. My family has cooked a large batch of rice so that the leftover can be stored, something that is not recommended today. In those days, there were no rice cookers. I always ate leftover rice left in the refrigerator, and still do. I don't recall one incident of food poisoning, both myself and anyone I know. Incidentally, keeping the rice for long periods in a cooker in the warm setting is not recommended.
So while the Cleveland Clinic reports that there are 63,4000 annual cases of food poisoning, and another scientific article says 84,000, why have I suddenly read and seen in various media more and more warnings of getting food poisoning from rice? Turns out that there is no new study about eating rice. Much of the recent hoopla comes from TikTok:
In one clip, a woman in a patterned hospital gown is hunched over in bed like an apostrophe. While horizontal in a dark room, another user whispers into the camera, “Rice poisoning is the worst type of food poisoning I have ever gotten in my entire life.” Yet another, who supposedly just ate a bowl of rice that had been out of the fridge all night, writes: “I DONT WANNA GET DIHARREA,” followed by two sobbing emojis. (Look at some of them yourself.)
Most of these TikTok victims seem to use rice. Media pick up things like the above, and disseminate them. So there is no sudden epidemic of rice poisoning. In fact, most of the scare stories are those that keep circulating online, as for example from 2003:
...five siblings from Belgium became ill after eating pasta salad that had been made for a picnic and served again for dinner three days later. The youngest, a seven-year-old girl, died in the hospital after her liver failed. Five years later, a 20-year-old student from Belgium also died after eating five-day-old spaghetti, which he’d made and left out in the kitchen at room temperature.
A good second point is that the whole range of carbohydrates and other foods should be included in this rice scare. That's because the poisoning is almost always caused by a bacterium, Bacillus cereus, which is found almost everywhere. There are various strains, and some can cause truly serious ailments. But today I will only write about the most prevalent and simple food poisoning, which usually affects you for only one day, unless you have those underlying symptoms, etc., that became famous during the COVID-19 pandemic. Symptoms are abdominal pain, stomach cramping and watery diarrhea, with some nausea and vomiting.
How to prevent rice poisoning.
- Store cooked rice in a Ziploc bag, wait until it cools to near room temperature, then place it in a refrigerator below 41 F. Most of them are maintained at 40 F or a little lower.
- Keep in refrigerator only for a few days. Not longer than a week, although most articles say 5 days would be safer.
- Of course, you can freeze the rice for 6 months. Does it lose taste and texture? Probably, but the way I re-use rice, like with fried fish and tsukemono, or covered with sukiyaki, makes this unimportant.
- Reheat to at least 165 F. Note that boiling water is at 212F. It is reported that microwave warming can be safer if done right, like adding some water to the rice to enhance steaming.
The problem with B. cereus (yes, pronounced be serious) is that the spores enter the food product, like rice. Rice is boiled, cooked, whatever, and the heat does not kill the spore. When the rice is consumed, the digestive process converts the spores into vegetative cells, whose toxins cause all the problem. Improper storage can also enable this bacterium to multiply. By the way, if you actually try to sterilize B. cereus spores, alcohol also does not kill this organism.
For completeness, I should mention that other microorganisms can also cause food poisoning. From the Mayo Clinic.
| Disease cause | Timing of symptoms | Common sources |
|---|---|---|
| Bacillus cereus (bacterium) | 30 minutes to 15 hours. | Foods such as rice, leftovers, sauces, soups, meats and others that have sat out at room temperature too long. |
| Campylobacter (bacterium) | 2 to 5 days. | Raw or undercooked poultry, shellfish, unpasteurized milk, and contaminated water. |
| Clostridium botulinum (bacterium) | 18 to 36 hours. Infants: 3 to 30 days. | For infants, honey or pacifiers dipped in honey. Home-preserved foods including canned foods, fermented fish, fermented beans and alcohol. Commercial canned foods and oils infused with herbs. |
| Clostridium perfringens (bacterium) | 6 to 24 hours. | Meats, poultry, stews and gravies. Commonly, food that is not kept hot enough when served to a large group. Food left out at room temperature too long. |
| Escherichia coli, commonly called E. coli (bacterium) | Usually, 3 to 4 days. Possibly, 1 to 10 days. | Raw or undercooked meat, unpasteurized milk or juice, soft cheeses from unpasteurized milk, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Contaminated water. Feces of people with E. coli. |
| Giardia lamblia (parasite) | 1 to 2 weeks. | Food and water contaminated with feces that carry the parasite. Food handlers who are carriers of the parasite. |
| Hepatitis A (virus) | 15 to 50 days. | Raw and undercooked shellfish, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other uncooked food. Food and water contaminated with human feces. Food handlers who have hepatitis A. |
| Listeria (bacterium) | 9 to 48 hours for digestive disease. 1 to 4 weeks for body-wide disease. | Hot dogs, luncheon meats, unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses from unpasteurized milk, refrigerated smoked fish, refrigerated pates or meat spreads, and fresh fruits and vegetables. |
| Norovirus (virus) | 12 to 48 hours. | Shellfish and fresh fruits and vegetables. Ready-to-eat foods, such as salads and sandwiches, touched by food handlers with the virus. Food or water contaminated with vomit or feces of a person with the virus. |
| Rotavirus (virus) | 18 to 36 hours. | Food, water or objects, such as faucet handles or utensils, contaminated with the virus. |
| Salmonella (bacterium) | 6 hours to 6 days. | Most often poultry, eggs and dairy products. Other foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, nuts, nut products, and spices. |
| Shellfish poisoning (toxin) | Usually 30 to 60 minutes, up to 24 hours. | Shellfish, including cooked shellfish, from coastal seawater contaminated with toxins. |
| Shigella (bacterium) | Usually, 1 to 2 days. Up to 7 days. | Contact with a person who is sick. Food or water contaminated with human feces. Often ready-to-eat food handled by a food worker with shigella. |
| Staphylococcus aureus (bacterium) | 30 minutes to 8 hours. | Meat, egg salad, potato salad or cream-filled pastries that have been left out too long or not refrigerated. Foods handled by a person with the bacteria, which is often found on skin. |
| Vibrio (bacterium) | 2 to 48 hours. | Raw or undercooked fish or shellfish, especially oysters. Water contaminated with sewage. Rice, millet, fresh fruits and vegetables. |
Finally, some other food worries:
- If you happen to eat a slice of bread, and immediately find the loaf to be moldy, should you panic?
- Chances are that the fuzzy green stuff will not harm your body.
- Being totally grossed out might well be the only problem.
- But there are exceptions.
- You could be allergic to some molds.
- Some molds have mycotoxins that can be toxic to humans.
- Many just keep bread on the counter. It will turn green in five to seven days.
- Some refrigerate, and others freeze.
Mayonnaise?- When used as a spread on bread for sandwiches, mayonnaise tends to prevent bacterial growth. If anyone gets poisoned from the sandwich, the cause is the chicken, tuna, egg, etc.
- ....things like potato salad are often blamed for causing food-borne illness due to the mayonnaise, and the fact it contains eggs. The truth is, mayonnaise (manufactured) does not cause illness, bacteria does, and bacteria just happen to love to grow in many of the foods we combine with mayonnaise- potatoes, pasta, eggs and chicken.
Unopened store-bought mayonnaise left at room temperature can last about 3 or 4 months. Otherwise, when opened, can be stored in a refrigerator until that limit is reached.- Restaurants seem not to refrigerate mayonnaise. Is this safe? Almost surely, for this mayonnaise does not use eggs, and the bottle is out there only for a day or two.
- So while there are always exceptions, most articles say mayonnaise is unfairly blamed for food poisoning.
Then there is botulism.- Illness caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.
- Mortality is 3%: 109 deaths for 3,618 cases, from 1975-2009 in the U.S. Or only a little more than 2 deaths/year. From Wikipedia: 145 cases/year, 65% infant and 15% foodborne. So for older folks, only 22 cases/year, and the odds are that you won't die.
Somewhat like Bc, but the Cb spores are activated by low oxygen levels and certain temperatures.
For example, in 1994 in El Paso, Texas, 30 people were sickened from foil-wrapped baked potatoes. Potatoes kept at a certain temperature range covered with foil provide ideal conditions for production of Cb toxins.- The toxin can be destroyed by heating to 185F. However, the spores are resistant, and needs moist heat at 250 F for more than 15 minutes in an autoclave to destroy.
- In very young infants, can develop in the intestines.
- Honey can contain this bacterium and therefore should not be fed to children under 12 months old.
- No vaccine for botulism.
- In short, be aware, but with only 2 deaths/year for the entire country, something that should not unduly worry you.
In the U.S., food waste could be up to 40% of the food supply. Part of reason is to avoid food poisoning. This moral dilemma can be a challenge for some. Worse, there is a general sense that everything you assume about date labels is probably wrong. Read that link from Harvard's Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation to appreciate this problem. In a nutshell, I tend to throw too much food away, for the fear of food poisoning is overwhelming.
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