You know to toss away meat that has been sitting at room temperature for over a day and at that point, it begins to smell. The same with vegetables as vegetables that go bad will also smell if they are cut up. Obviously, that does not apply to fruits or vegetables you can leave out that have not been cut up or peeled like a banana. You definitely do not want to even touch any dairy products left out at room temperature for too long. However, you would be surprised to learn that there are other foods that you would not think for a second that can go bad if they were left out. Those foods or rice or pasta.
How could the carby goodness go bad if you were to leave that out? Here is the thing, if you leave anything out too long, or even in the fridge past its ‘best before’ date, then that will breed bacteria and other pathogens. A harmful bacterium that breeds in old pasta or rice is Bacillus cereus. This bacterium is not rare as it can breed in the soil as well, and it can also live in your gut. In fact, this bacterium can live anywhere including animals, insects, plants, and even dust.
How Will These Bacteria Keep Reproducing?
Once B. cereus makes an appearance in the rice or pasta, it will utilize nutrients from it, and then it will reproduce endlessly. You can also find it in dairy, vegetables, and even dried foods that went bad. Eventually, with old dried foods, the preservatives would have worn off. The thing that is confusing about bacteria is that some types are good for your gut and overall health which are probiotics. However, the bad bacteria can cause severe food poisoning, especially if you ended up storing the food in the wrong environment. Unfortunately, it can also bring death.
There Have Been Cases Of The Bacteria Killing People
There have been several cases of people eating four or five-day-old rice or pasta and passing away. If they did not pass away, they were severely ill and some ended up with liver failure. An example was in 2003, one family got very sick from eating four-day-old pasta salad. The family prepared the pasta salad on a Friday and took it on a picnic on a Saturday, and then put the leftovers back into the fridge. Then on Monday, they ate the rest of the leftovers. The children were vomiting and taken to the hospital, and sadly the youngest passed away. The other child survived but had liver failure, and the other child was fine with fluid therapy.
There was another case of a college student in Belgium in 2008 who prepped his meals for a week and then ended up eating pasta one night as it was five days old. However, he ended up leaving the pasta on the kitchen table for a long time as it was long enough to taint it. Later that night he had vomiting and diarrhea and died in his sleep. There were several other cases as well of similar stories where people ate old pasta or rice and died later.
The reason that this bacteria can be so deadly is that it can secrete dangerous toxins in foods and cooking it through will not be enough to kill it. However, not everyone who eats old pasta or rice will die. But at the same time, you want to practice good hygiene and you will want to eat cooked pasta or rice within 48 hours of making it to stay safe. That goes for all food that you cook.
