You Can Get Food Poisoning from Leftover Rice—Here’s How to Avoid It

You Can Get Food Poisoning from Leftover Rice—Here’s How to Avoid It Make sure you’re storing your leftoversproperly, or you could get seriously sick. Uncooked rice can have spores of Bacilluscereus, which can cause food poisoning. These spores can survive evenwhen the rice is cooked. If you leave your rice out at room temperature,the spores can grow into bacteria and multiply. The bacteria may then producetoxins which can make you sick. In fact, Bacillus cereus illness issometimes called "fried rice syndrome." So here's how to avoid it: Try to get leftover rice in the fridge within anhour so bacteria don’t have much chance to grow. If you have a large pot of rice, divide yourleftovers into smaller containers to cool brieflyon your countertop, then store them in the fridge.