There are certain foods that you should stay away from. These include mushroom pots, prepared by people who are not kind to you. Puffer fish is also not entirely recommended. Rice, on the other hand, does not have a reputation for being particularly poisonous. However, many people are currently putting this on their red list. This is due to the death of a 20-year-old, which is currently making the rounds on Tiktok and is causing panic. Because the student died from something called Fried Rice Syndrome.
The student had eaten five-day-old cooked noodles and died as a result. The problem: he hadn’t kept the leftovers in the fridge. At room temperature, the pasta formed a perfect breeding ground for the bacteria called Bacillus cereus. This is a food-poisoning bacterium that is widespread worldwide, forms spores and is able to survive for a long time. It occurs particularly frequently in cooked rice, which is why food poisoning caused by the bacterium is also called fried rice syndrome.
Pathogen reservoirs also include cooked “pasta and meat dishes, vegetables, sauces, pudding, vanilla sauce, patisserie and everyday items that have come into contact with contaminated food,” explains the Federal Ministry of Health. Bacillus cereus is responsible for a large proportion of food-borne illnesses, particularly in commercial kitchens and communal catering.
As a rule, bacteria are killed when the food is heated. The Bacillus cereus, however, is very heat-resistant. Spores that have survived the heating process often trigger illness later. Because they can form toxins in food. A distinction is made between two types of toxins: vomiting and diarrhea toxins. This affects, among other things, food that is already ready to eat or, as in the case of the 20-year-old, incorrect handling of the food.
“The bacterium causes food-borne illnesses in humans, especially when cooked food is kept warm for a long time or is reheated. Spores survive short cooking times and multiply rapidly as soon as the food has cooled down,” said the Ministry of Health. It can be dangerous if the prepared food was either not kept warm enough or not cooled properly.
The first symptoms of Fried Rice Syndrome usually appear 6 to 24 hours after eating the contaminated food. People suffering from diarrhea are usually plagued by abdominal cramps and diarrhea for around 24 hours. People who suffer from the vomiting type usually struggle with nausea and vomiting for less than 24 hours. “In most cases, the symptoms that occur with this disease go away on their own. If the disease is severe, a doctor must be consulted,” informs the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety.
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment recommends that consumers who want to protect themselves from illnesses caused by bacterial toxins at home should, among other things, avoid cross-contamination from food to food in the kitchen. Before handling raw ingredients and preparing food, hands and utensils should be thoroughly cleaned with soap. Heated, prepared food should be quickly cooled to below 7 degrees Celsius and stored in the refrigerator until needed. If food is to be kept hot, care should be taken to ensure that the food has a temperature of at least 60 degrees Celsius in all places.
The student’s death, which is currently being discussed on Tiktok, occurred in 2018.
Source: Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Federal Ministry of Health, LG Bavaria, Laves Lower Saxony
