I ate rice that was in the fridge for 3 days without reheating it. Why didn’t I get food poisoning?

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I made jambalaya last friday, let it cool, put it in tubs and stored it in the fridge. I took some out to have for tea last night but couldn’t be bothered to microwave it. Then I realized, “wait, aren’t you supposed to make sure rice is thoroughly reheated before eating?” But I’m completely fine so what gives?

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5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

At the time you ate it there was not a sufficent number of bacteria to get you sick.

Cause the rice isn’t what does it. It is the bacteria that can eat it. You then eat that bacteria that has grown on the rice with the rice and they get you sick. That is, if that kind of bacteria grows well in you.

If the meal was thuroughly cooked most the bacteria that could get you sick have been killed off. In the fridge most the bacteria that can get you sick don’t like to grow. So their numbers would not have rebounded. There are some strains that grow well in the fridge but they don’t like being cooked either so you are good either way.

Also worth noting you probably don’t habitually microwave anything long enough or hot enough to kill the harmful bactria so. That is just for preference.

Similar if it was old enough to have a sufficient bacteria population it would have gotten you sick unless you thuroughly re-cooked it. And some bacteria release toxins that might make you ill anyway. But not sick with an infection.

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