I wonder if this is an US/the rest thing or maybe a meat eater / vegetarian thing. For exact scientific evaluation, please tell in which groups you fit in when commenting.
When the topic food is brought up here or there is always this guy saying "omg you can't leave your food for 30 minutes on the counter because bacteria you know" (exaggerated) and I don't get where that sentiment comes from. Many people agree and say you will get food poisoning from that.
First of all, let me tell you I am not an idiot (at least I hope so) and I know how microbiology works - bacteria is everywhere. I don't doubt your food on the counter will get populated by bacteria, probably more than it would be in the fridge. The question is, is this bad for you?
Now, where I live (central Europe) people are not so fast with that and I wonder why this is. We have a temperate climate which could play a role, so a large portion of the year the temperature is pretty moderate, compared to let's say south US. But apart from that I don't really know.
I am a vegetarian, mostly vegan. I am pretty sure it's not a good idea to leave animal parts out of the fridge, as they are already populated with bad bacteria when you buy them. But for vegetables? Pasta, soup, lasagna? To be honest, I have no shame to leave that stuff on the counter the whole day and even take a spoon from time to time without reheating. Over night I put it of course in the fridge, and in summer when we have 35°C it's also a different thing. But in general I don't really care. I know I cannot extrapolate on humanity, only because ai never felt bad after doing this. But honestly, am I an idiot? Or are you just a bit sensitive? Do you assume everybody eats meats?
Really interested in your ideas. Don't forget to tell the region you are coming from and your diet preferences.
Thank you so much my respected lemmings and pie people
While you've been fine and might continue to be fine for the rest of your life, rice is considered a high risk food when it's cooked and left out.
For others, please don't take this advice, especially if this hasn't been your usual practice. People have different immune systems and can build up a tolerance to their own practices. Reheated rice is a major cause of food poisoning, to reduce the risk it should either be super hot or cold, limiting the time spent in between.
The bacteria that live on rice create endospores and lay dormant even in dry conditions. They can survive the cooking process and once they become active, they create a toxin that can't be eliminated at cooking temperatures.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7913059
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0882401023004515
Hah. Ok. I'd heard about rice being "super high risk" in the past, and your comment encouraged me to look into it a little more.
Firstly, obviously this, nor my earlier comment is not "advice". I'm not sat here advising people to eat toxic rice. Everyone is responsible for their own decisions. I don't care what everyone else is doing, I'm merely curious as to how my we manage to avoid getting food poisoning from every meal.
Now, I don't eat rice. I've been following a carbohydrate restricted diet for years because I have T2D. My partner is the boss about rice in our house. Yes, she's from south east asia. We're team thai-grown-jasmine when it comes to rice.
We also live in a mild climate, so in our kitchen during winter it would probably be 12 degrees celsius for 12 hours or so overnight, and rarely exceed 22 degrees celsius during the day. During summer there's an additional 4 degrees to those numbers. We don't use any heating or cooling in our house. I feel like this is certainly relevant.
I actually just called her to check on the timeframe she would follow. It's more nuanced than I had previously considered. She said that in winter she would still eat rice after 36 hours at room temperature. However (!) based on my own observations I think the texture has become more rubbery by that time, so while she might do that on occasion I don't think it's that common. I think she just naturally cooks enough for this meal and the next meal, but sometimes there's some left over.
She also said that in summer 24 hours is probably the limit.
I'm not here to police yours or your partner's eating habits.
I saw the statement:
And provided a counter point. I had to train cooks and dispell so many food and hygeine myths. Maybe I get a twitch when I read that kind of thing.
Ideally, rice should be cooled down within 1-2hrs and stored in the fridge. 12°C is balmy for bacteria.