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Post by tangent on Aug 9, 2013 17:26:38 GMT
We are told that if we reheat leftover food in the microwave, it must always be piping hot but I can't find anyone who knows why.
I've just eaten some chicken that was left over from a meal two days ago and had been stored in the fridge. Whilst cooling down on Wednesday and being stored in the fridge, a small number of bacteria will have grown on the meat. Let's say there were n bacteria. No one ever tells you not to eat leftover food straight from the fridge. Apparently, it's perfectly safe to eat n bacteria. But you risk a slow, lingering death, or something, if you heat up those bacteria to room temperature, when they will go beserk and inflict mortal damage. Or not.
I remember learning in the science class at school that bacteria can double in 20 minutes in ideal circumstances. I actually heated up the chicken for 20 seconds and it remained luke warm for another 40 seconds before finding its way into my stomach. A quick calculation shows that 1.035n bacteria have bathed themselves in my stomach acid and are now presumably dead. Are we supposed to believe that n bacteria are perfectly safe whilst 1.035n bacteria will kill you? I just don't get it. Have we been duped by paranoid health officials with dubious science?
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Post by Moose on Aug 9, 2013 17:32:59 GMT
On facebook the other day a bloke posted a pic of refrigerated raw chicken that was THREE months out of date. It looked a bit weird but not mouldy. He ate it. Mind, I've not seen him post since
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Post by Miisa on Aug 9, 2013 17:35:31 GMT
I suspect the problem is that people re-heat food multiple times and keep putting it back in the fridge after it has been heated up. Every time it is heated up, the bacteria multiply, exponentially, and the fridge will not kill them. I have never heard the piping hot thing, only to NOT reheat multiple times at all, but I guess the idea is that extreme heat will kill off some of the bacteria rather than actually make things more comfortable for them, as microwaving often does.
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Post by Alvamiga on Aug 9, 2013 21:31:38 GMT
Yes, it is also true of thawing and refreezing food, as the best temperature to multiply is somewhere between the two and keep passing the food through that zone increases their best time to do it.
Also, it is usually not the bacteria themselves that cause the illness, but the toxins they produce metabolising. That is why blasting things with heat does not make it safe. It kills the bacteria, but the toxins remain to do the damage.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 10, 2013 9:19:41 GMT
I remember reading a horrific story of a father and son who were left at home with a bit batch of pasta that the wife/mother had cooked up before leaving them for the week. They pulled the full amount out every day and heated it then put the leftovers back in the fridge and pulled out again the next day and heated it all up etc. The boy died and the father was left in serious condition from what I remember.
Anyway, I'm paranoid about this stuff. I pulled some beef out of the freezer and put in the fridge Wednesday night. It was a big chucnk and I cut off a few slices and fried them up Thursday and planning to cook the rest today. I think that is OK. Hope so.
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Post by Alvamiga on Aug 10, 2013 10:06:12 GMT
I think it probably is. I think that manufacturers go well over to the side of caution with dates on stuff. There was someone on TV recently saying about the massive amount of food thrown away by people obsessing about the date on the package when it was probably still fine. I often thaw and use half of something and then use the rest a day or two later.
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Post by JoeP on Aug 10, 2013 10:07:28 GMT
That's almost a Darwin award ... natural selection desperately trying to weed the gene pool
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Post by Alvamiga on Aug 10, 2013 10:17:13 GMT
Natural selection has a hard time of it these days. There are a lot of people I think "should" die that survive.
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Post by tangent on Aug 10, 2013 10:57:37 GMT
We have reached a stage in evolution where we are unlikely to make any physical progress, in the western world at any rate.
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Post by Mari on Aug 10, 2013 17:35:22 GMT
I tend to bake/cook all my meat and then put them in the freezer in portions.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 10, 2013 18:32:08 GMT
We just had our beef and it was lovely. Mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm
The lady at the farm said it wasn't a problem to have the meat in the freezer for up to 10 months and last time we ordered from them we ate the last around 10-11 month range and had no problem.
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Post by juju on Aug 12, 2013 9:40:57 GMT
I've heard that reheating rice can be a big problem. Most of the food poisoning after eating takeaway food comes from the rice - I think it's to do with a particular bacteria that multiplies on cooked rice if it's left standing around at room temperature, which some takeaways probably do.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 12, 2013 10:02:10 GMT
It's because the bacteria in rice can't be killed off. Heating it won't kill it. The only thing you can do is keep it cold in the fridge which slows down thw bacteria multiplying, but it will only be good for a couple days. So with rice, don't keep it out of the fridge too long and use it up within 2-3 days.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 12, 2013 14:00:18 GMT
Presumably this particular bacteria like the heat. It's a specific type of bacteria only found in rice. Apparently it's fine while the rice is uncooked but as soon as you cook it, they start to mulitply. Leastaways from what I remember reading about it.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 12, 2013 14:04:28 GMT
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Post by tangent on Aug 12, 2013 14:13:27 GMT
Thanks I looked it up and deleted my post before I found you had replied.
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