The ‘invisible mould’ to be wary of – it causes respiratory & neurological issues, and may be hiding in your leftovers
IT'S often kept as a leftover - whether we've cooked too much of it, or just can't eat all of our Chinese takeaway.
But one woman has warned against keeping your leftover rice.
Physical health expert Patricia Ladis explained that there's an "invisible mould" that can form on the food - and can lead to a whole load of health ailments.
"I read that in Japan, they figured out that there were a bunch of people that were getting sick because they were storing the rice in their fridge after they ate it," she said in a video on her Instagram page.
"And there's an invisible mould that grows and that mould can actually make you sick in many, many ways.
"So next time you order or make rice - throw it out after you're done!"
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In the video caption, Patricia added: "Mould is a dangerous thing. Invisible mould is scary.
"Mould can make you prone to sinusitis, bronchitis, respiratory issues, neurological issues and more."
People were quick to comment on the video, with one writing: "It caused a cardiovascular disease and many people died.
"The rice act was especially for that so it won't happen anymore.
"Put it in the fridge and eat within 24 hours after that throw it out."
"I actually saw a different video a while back that went into the details of this!" another added.
"They have a rule that places cannot have ready made rice for extended periods of time because there were hundreds of people getting sick all the time and it just wasn’t getting better and they trailed it all back to rice!
"It was called the rice act of 1920 or something, I’m pretty sure."
"It happened to me with white couscous," a third wrote.
"I was sick for 3 days, it was horrible!"
It's also unwise to reheat cooked rice that you've been storing in the fridge, another added in the comments section.
"Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning," they wrote.
"The spores can survive when rice is cooked.
"If rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria.
"And this only takes about 2 hours for the bacteria to start growing while the rice is sitting out."
But not everyone agreed with Patricia's video.
"Wrong....rice stored properly will last couple of more days," one wrote.
"I don't know anyone who leaves rice out at room temp.
"As for Asians, we make rice in the morning, stays in the rice cooker for couple of hours in Warm mode and after that store in a container into the fridge.
"Maybe you are storing it the wrong way?"
"Rice doesn’t get mold after a few days in the fridge," someone else said.
"Geesh. People post dumb, ignorant s**t daily."
"It's a waste of time, money, and food for some ridiculous paranoia that one in a million will suffer from," another wrote.
"There's better things to worry about and no one should live life worrying about this."
"100% inaccurate," someone else said.
"This happens when leftover rice is not refrigerated.
"Don’t throw out rice.
"It can be stored for up to 4 days in the refrigerator and longer in the freezer."
Patricia then responded to the backlash in the comments section, writing: "This isn’t my expertise, the citations are in the comments.
"I encourage everyone to do their due diligence and check out the data themselves.
"I did read up on pubmed and ncbi and shared those citations in early comments below.
"Instagram sucks when it comes to linking long URL’s. I’m passionate about sharing info that resonates for me and reducing inflammation in the body to optimize performance.
"Many of my athletes eat rice… this is why I posted it.
"Sorry if it wasn’t helpful, hope you check out the research yourself and see what resonates for you. Thanks."
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According to the NHS, rice should be kept for no longer than one day in the fridge before reheating.
"When you reheat rice, always check that it's steaming hot all the way through," they write on their website.
