Eating pasta or 5-day rice can actually kill you. here's how

If the meat stays too long on the counter, we all know that we have to throw it away. But what about rice or pasta?

Although this beauty may seem harmless after spending some time on the bench, you will probably think twice about hearing about the bacteria. Bacillus Cereus.

This is not a particularly rare germ. B. cereus will live happily wherever he can: soil, food or bowel.

"The known natural habitats of B. cereus are varied, including soil, animals, insects, dust and plants, "Anukriti Mathur, a biotechnology researcher at Australian National University, told Science Alert.

"Bacteria will reproduce using the nutrients contained in food products [..] including rice, dairy products, spices, dried foods and vegetables. "

Some strains of this bacteria are useful for probiotics, but others can cause food poisoning if given the ability to grow and proliferate, for example when you store food in poor conditions.

The worst scenarios can even lead to death.

In 2005, a case of this type was registered in the Microbiology Clinical Journal – five children from one family became ill after eating a four-day old pasta salad.

According to the case study, the pasta salad was prepared on a Friday and brought to a picnic on Saturday. After returning from the picnic, he was kept in the refrigerator until Monday evening, when the children fed him for dinner.

That night, the children started to vomit and were taken to the hospital. Tragically, the youngest child is dead; another had hepatic insufficiency but had survived and the others had less severe food poisoning and could be treated with liquids.

"B. cereus is a well-known cause of foodborne illness, but infection by this organism is not commonly reported because of its generally mild symptoms, "explain the researchers.

"A fatal case due to liver failure after pasta salad consumption is described and demonstrates the possible severity."

Although these deaths are fortunately rare, they have been reported more than once in the literature. This week, the news highlighted an old case published in 2011, about a Belgian student of 20 years who prepared his meals for the week. On this fateful occasion, it was spaghetti with tomato sauce.

He had made the pasta five days earlier and was warming it with sauce. That day, he accidentally left his food on the kitchen bench for an indefinite period. After diarrhea, abdominal pain and heavy vomiting, he died later in the night.

An answer to this case study highlighted two other cases of young people with liver failure and who died B. cereus – an 11-year-old boy who died after eating Chinese noodles and a 17-year-old teenager who died after eating four-day old spaghetti.

Now, before giving up pasta for life, we must emphasize that most people who get sick B. cereus do not end up having liver failure. Usually, it is a case of food poisoning fairly mild.

"It is important to note that B. cereus can cause serious and life-threatening conditions, such as sepsis, in immunocompromised people, infants, the elderly and pregnant women, "said Mathur.

"[Most] Affected individuals improve over time without treatment. These people are not going to see a doctor for a diagnosis "and are therefore underreported.

But how can it cause such serious food poisoning and can we do something?

B. cereus has the bad habit of secreting dangerous toxins in food. Some of these toxins are very difficult to remove with the heat that your microwave would normally produce.

For example, one of the toxins causing vomiting in humans (called emetic toxin) can withstand 121 ° C (250 ° F) for 90 minutes. And this is not the only toxin you will find in his arsenal.

"Our immune system recognizes a toxin [haemolysin BL] secreted by B. cereuswhich leads to an inflammatory response, "says Mathur speaking of a research study on the bacteria that she co-wrote last year.

"Our research study shows that the toxin targets and pierces holes in the cell, causing its cell death and inflammation."

His team also identified two ways to help the body neutralize the effects of BL hemolysin, thus ending the death march of the B. cereus. The methods involve either blocking the activity of the toxin or reducing the inflammation caused by it.

Although their approach is still in the early stages of research, the team hopes that these techniques could even be used in other toxin-producing bacteria, such as E. coli.

But above all, keep your food in the refrigerator and follow the rules of hygiene of the kitchen.

"It's important that people wash their hands properly and prepare food according to safety guidelines," says Mathur.

"In addition, properly heating leftover food will destroy most bacteria and their toxins."

The search was published in Microbiology of nature.