TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Leftover rice usually is reheated, but in fact, it could be dangerous to health and causes food poisoning.

Quoted from National Health Service (NHS), the poisoning is not necessarily caused by the reheating, but how the rice is stored before that. Raw rice could contain spores called Bacillus cereus and could survive when the rice is cooked.

However, when left at room temperature, that spore could grow into bacteria and multiply to create diarrhoea-causing poison. The longer the rice is left, the higher chance for the bacteria to reproduce resulting in risky rice.

As quoted from Medical News Today, the common symptoms of food poisoning are diarrhoea, vomiting, stomachache and chills which are mildly felt.

Generally, people can recover quickly without complications, yet contact a doctor if after 48 hours the symptom worsened or emerging new ones.

A study from 2015 titled, "Plant Compounds Enhance the Assay Sensitivity for Detection of Active Bacillus cereus Toxin," stated that poisoning due to Bacillus cereus in the USA reached 84 thousand annually.

Hence why rice ideally is to be eaten after cooked and if not possible, store no more than a day in the refrigerator before reheating it the following day.

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AMELIA RAHMA SARI | GRAVEN FIKRI (INTERN)