Is Reheating Rice or Rice Pudding Dangerous?

Shouldn’t rice pudding – just like rice – be stored and reheated because the same bacteria can also be present in rice pudding?

In fact, the same Bacillus cereus spore-forming bacteria found in rice may be present in rice pudding. This means that you should observe the following points when preparing, storing or heating up rice and rice pudding:

• It is best to serve rice (including rice pudding) immediately after cooking.
• If this is not possible or you have leftovers that you want to reheat later, then you should chill the rice in the refrigerator or keep it warm above 65°C immediately or within an hour of cooking. This prevents germs from growing or spores from germinating.
• If you want to reheat the rice for consumption, then this should be done within a day. It is then important to reheat the leftovers evenly to at least 70 to 75 degrees Celsius.
• You should not reheat rice more than once.

Background:

Rice very often contains the spore-forming bacteria of the type Bacillus cereus. The spores of these bacteria are not killed by heating. New bacteria can develop from them during storage, which form toxins. These bacteria multiply particularly quickly when cooked rice is slowly cooled at room temperature or kept warm at lukewarm temperatures. The toxins of these bacteria can cause vomiting and diarrhea.