Leftovers That Can Possibly Turn Into Toxic Meals

Usually, during lunch time or dinner time, we tend to prepare too much food wherein we store the leftover in the fridge and eat it the next day. Though these leftovers’ taste is not as good as the day before, we just reheat it and still feast on them because we don’t want to waste foods.

Sometimes, nothing is wrong with this habit, however, there are some leftovers that can possibly turn into toxic meals that provide much fewer nutrients compared to eating them freshly prepared. Listed below are the foods you should never reheat as it can give harmful effects on your body.

Rice

Rice must be stored properly. Uncooked rice may contain spores of harmful bacteria that survive through the initial cooking process, according to the Food Standards Agency. When we don’t eat it at once, the spores multiply and spread, causing digestive problems such as diarrhea and vomiting.
Reheating does not solve the problem. Even if you reheat the rice, harmful bacteria will not be eliminated. They are able to survive even at boiling hot temperatures.

It’s recommended to eat the rice right after it is cooked or within an hour of preparation. By doing so, the bacteria will not multiply and cause a problem.

But if you really have some leftovers, put it immediately in your fridge or freezer after you are finished with it. Avoid sitting it at room temperature for more than an hour because more dangerous bacteria will spread if you left it out for a longer period of time.

Vegetables

Many people know that reheating leafy green veggies makes them poisonous. But the entire truth is veggie should just be properly stored in order to be safe for reheating. It is recommended by the Center for Food Safety that leftover vegetables should be placed in an area where the temperature is below 4 degrees Celsius. You should also put them in the freezer if you want to keep them for longer than 12 hours. This is due to the reason that vegetables, such as celery, lettuce, spinach, beets, and spinach have high amounts of nitrate. Although nitrate itself is not harmful, if vegetables are left out at room temperature nitrates can turn into nitrites due to bacterial action.

Nitrite consumption has harmful effects on infants as well as on young children because they can cause a rare blood disorder methemoglobinemia, which manifests through headaches, fatigue, and seizures.

Vegetable Oil

Reheating vegetable oil has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and even cancer. According to a study, a toxic compound known as 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE), which causes a variety of disorders, is released when you repeatedly heat up polyunsaturated oils which have linoleic acids like canola, corn, soybean, and sunflower.

Studies have linked HNE to serious health conditions such as stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, Huntington’s disease, liver ailments, and cancer.

Jeannie Moloo of the American Dietetic Association says that:

“If a person is concerned about the health aspects of HNE, then my recommendations would be to never heat any oil to the point of smoking and, as far as cooking at home goes, just use the oil one time.”