#otherwise you can Google it all in a fit of unshackled autism and unabashed ADHD

[adinafay]

Random rabbit-hole I went down this evening: rice syndrome

I've seen many an internet PSA about not reheating/being very careful with leftover rice because of the risk of Bacillus cereus.

I have seen even more commentary that boils down to "white people better stop telling asians to stop reheating rice because it's a core tenet of our people"

and for whatever reason, tonight, my brain was like "I need to know why this argument is such a thing"

Initial hypotheses were centered around my general understanding of different cultural preferences and practices regarding rice consumption (brown/white) and preparation (rinsed/unrinsed, cooker/stovetop) along with the potential for geographic differences in presence/prevalence of B. cereus.

I learned:

- B. cereus is ubiquitous globally and in damn near 100% of rice (and also found in many other things, particularly starchy food products) but only a few of the many, many strains produce the enterotoxins that cause illness.

- even though the potentially deleterious strains are less common in North America than the benign ones, NA has a higher ratio of B. cereus illnesses/rice consumption than China.

- Outbreaks in China are almost exclusively associated with school cafeterias

- People in NA eat more brown rice than people in other global regions while asian cultures (stereotypically but truly) consume primarily white rice

- there is no significant difference in the amount of B. cereus present in uncooked white and brown rice

- brown rice has a much shorter shelf-life than white rice because the bran/germ contain oils and proteins that go rancid.

- Brown rice also has a higher moisture content (with the bran removed, the endosperm is able to dry out more thoroughly in white rice)

- asian cultures/recipes more consistently rinse rice than do their western counterparts

-rinsing rice does not reduce bacterial load, but does reduce starch

-most B. cereus strains form highly resilient and temperature tolerant endospores (cannot readily be killed by cooking or freezing)

- B. cereus quantity *can* still be mitigated in cooked rice by reducing exposure to bacterially ideal temperature and humidity (ya know, like you learn in Food Safety 101)

- cooked rice (because of hot-cooking methods and high moisture content) grows bacteria faster than many other foods (recommended timeframe for put-away is 60-90m instead of 2-4hr @ room temp)

-People participating in asian cultures are (evidentially) more likely to own/use rice cookers and (anecdotally) more likely to both eat leftover rice and have left that rice to sit in the rice cooker overnight or even days

- rice cookers are insulated and may also have "keep warm" features that prevent foods from entering the "danger zone" temps

So, now, my hypothetical takeaways Re: B. cereus & Rice is:

- the bacterial strains are mostly benign so standard food-safety is generally sufficient for maintaining the safety of leftover rice

- uncooked brown rice is gana go bad (AKA: grow extra bacteria) like 8x faster and people not knowing that probably leads to a lot of aching tummies

- rinsed rice has less starch and lower starch possibly = reduced resources for the multiplication of bacteria post-cooking

- it may be easier/better to keep leftover rice at a safe med/high temp than safely cool it for fridge or freezer - especially for larger quantities

- The Western white people putting out rice syndrome PSAs should, indeed, probably stop talking and instead just learn how to handle it properly. And also stop pushing brown rice over white rice.

- (no evidence for this, vibes only) you should never - never ever forever - eat rice or rice-based dishes from a school cafeteria, buffet, or similarly bulk and/or sketchy location.

What I did not look into that may also be relevant: whether there may be an ancestral-asian trait for higher tolerance of B. cereus enterotoxins.

Bonus fact: the nutritional value of brown rice is higher on paper than white rice but lower in practice for everything except ✨fiber✨because 1) the presence of the bran reduces digestibility, 2) there are several compounds in the germ that reduce nutrient availability, and 3) a majority of white rice on the market is enriched with most of the nutrients that the initial processing removes.