There is no denying the fact that sometimes leftovers can save the day when it comes to a quick lunch or an evening meal after a hard day. Unfortunately, reheating some dishes can put you at risk of food poisoning or worse.
Here are some foods that should never be reheated for various reasons related to their organic composition or reaction to temperatures.
High nitrate vegetables
If you have spinach or any green leafy vegetables, carrots, kale, or even celery, avoid reheating them. These nitrate-rich vegetables can turn toxic when heated again and release carcinogenic properties. Spinach contains a high amount of iron, so cooking and reheating spinach may oxidize the iron in spinach.
Iron oxidation produces dangerous substances that are known to cause many diseases including infertility and cancer .
Business Insider reported that the nitrates in spinach can be converted into nitrosamines by reheating. Some nitrosamines are carcinogenic and can affect the body's ability to carry oxygen, and these findings have been supported by the European Food Information Council.
Reheat potatoes
Although they are easy to prepare and store and are a crowd favorite, reheating potatoes is never a good idea. In fact, reheating them can make you sick because bacteria can build up in them while heating.
The British newspaper The Independent said that the problem with reheating potatoes is not to heat them in the microwave or oven, but rather to leave them to cool at room temperature for a long time before storing them in the refrigerator. Leaving potatoes out of the refrigerator causes food poisoning bacteria to build up. This is more likely to happen if the potatoes are tightly wrapped in foil.
Reheating potatoes does not warm the food hot enough to kill bacteria, even if the dish appears hot. If you don't put the potatoes away in the fridge right after serving, don't risk food poisoning by eating them the next day.
Rice leads to the multiplication of germs
You might be surprised, but rice is on the list, too. As reported by the BBC website , cooked rice can be contaminated with a bacteria called Bacillus cereus. And according to the US Food Standards Agency (FSA ), you can suffer from food poisoning by eating reheated rice.
Heat kills these bacteria, but they can produce spores that are naturally toxic. Once rice is reheated and left at room temperature, any germs it contains can multiply, leading to an increase in food poisoning upon consumption.
Mushrooms can cause stomach upset
Reheating mushrooms can give you stomachaches. According to The Independent and the European Food Information Council, reheating mushrooms is a big mistake.
Mushrooms contain proteins that can be damaged by enzymes and bacteria if not stored properly, such as leaving them at room temperature for a long time and then reheating and consuming them, this method can cause you stomach pain.
But if you really have to reheat mushrooms, the European Food Information Council recommends heating them to 70 °C.
Pay attention to the temperature of the chicken !
You may have already heard that heating leftover chicken can be dangerous. Although it's not entirely true that reheated chicken can lead to food poisoning, the steps for doing reheat properly are tricky.
It's technically okay to reheat chicken, said Lydia Buchtmann, a spokeswoman for the Food Safety Information Council . However, you must ensure that every part of the chicken reaches a temperature of at least 80°C to ensure that dangerous bacteria are killed. The only way to do this is with a cooking thermometer.
Furthermore, you need to make sure that cooked chicken stays below 5°C if you plan to reheat it, and you should throw away any cooked chicken that has been around for more than three days.
Be careful when heating seafood
It's always best to enjoy seafood fresh, but is it safe to reheat them? The answer depends on how the seafood was stored.
According to the Food and Drug Administration , fresh seafood caught and frozen immediately should be safe to reheat.
However, fresh or cooked seafood that has spent any time at room temperature may harbor bacteria that can cause foodborne illness. Reheating may not kill these bacteria, and it can be difficult to know how to store seafood in advance if you're buying fresh.
The Food and Drug Administration has also recommended that seafood should be discarded if it has been left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours in cold weather or one hour in warm weather. Bacteria can grow rapidly on seafood at any temperature between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heating eggs may cause cancer
We all know that eggs are a rich source of protein , but hard-cooked eggs or soft-boiled eggs can cause serious damage when exposed to heat over and over again. Once the eggs are cooked, eat them immediately but if they are kept for a longer period, do not reheat them, eat them cold as protein rich foods contain a lot of nitrogen .
This nitrogen may oxidize due to reheating, causing cancers .
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