7 Food items you should not reheat to eat
There comes a day in life when you don’t feel like cooking anything, or ordering anything to eat, or even going out. You may be plain lazy or running out of time, running late for work. At such times, if you have food left from yesterday or two days ago, you heave a sigh of relief and jump in excitement to gobble it up. You take it out and put it in the microwave before burying your teeth in it.
But hold on, there are some foods, which are not recommended to heat again as they may risk your health. These foods become unfit for consumption if you heat again after some time.
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Mushrooms:
If you heat mushrooms again, you will get an upset stomach. They contain proteins that are damaged by bacteria and enzymes if they are stored at room temperature for a long time. So if you heat such deteriorated mushrooms, they are bound to give you health problems.
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Eggs:
The FDA advises that heating eggs that have been lying in the open for a short time can be fatal for your health. You should not keep eggs or dishes having eggs for more than one hour outside the refrigerator. Salmonella and other such bacteria multiply rapidly at room temperature and this can lead to food poisoning if you heat and consume them again.
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Potatoes:
You can fall ill if you reheat potatoes again. The problem with potatoes is not exactly related to reheating them, if you leave cooked potatoes at room temperature for a long time, the bacteria causing botulism are formed in them. If the potatoes are covered tightly in foil, the bacteria forming process is accelerated. So if you reheat the potatoes, the temperature is not high enough to kill them.
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Oily Foods:
You should have sound knowledge of the heat tolerances of different oils because if you heat them past that tolerance, toxic fumes are produced which will harm you. If there is a lot of oil in any food item, you better think twice about reheating it in the microwave.
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Cooked Rice:
A similar thing goes with cooked rice. If you keep it at room temperature for hours, it gets contaminated by a bacteria named as Bacillus cereus. You can make them harmless if you heat the rice, but the problem lies in the fact that these bacteria make spores that are resistant to heat and harmful to us. Hence, it is advised to eat cooked rice without keeping it at room temperature for hours.
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Buffet:
These dishes are so tasty, yummy, and delicious to eat but as per the FDA, if they are left idle at room temperature for a long time, they turn into a breeding ground for harmful microorganisms. The restaurants and professional caterers do follow strict food safety guidelines, but if a buffet party is organized by you or at the office, then care should be taken. Don’t add fresh food to an already filled serving and remove out any dish lying at room temperature for a long time.
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Chicken:
Reheating leftover chicken is not exactly harmful; you just should know the right process. If you are reheating the chicken, make sure that every part of it reaches a temperature above 175 degrees Fahrenheit so that hazardous bacteria are killed. That means you may be compelled to use a thermometer to know the temperature rise. Apart from that, if you are going to store and consume it in a couple of days, always keep the cooked chicken strictly below 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Chicken which is lying idle for more than three days should be thrown away.
These are the food items, you got to know about now, which you should eat in one go or take utmost care while eating again. Different food items have different ingredients, chemical combinations, and rules for heating and eating again, know that and you are safe.
