4 Foods You Really Shouldn’t Risk Eating the Next Day
· Vice
There are lots of foods that people happily eat the next day without thinking twice. That confidence, though, is often misplaced. Leftovers can look, smell, and taste fine while still harboring bacteria that can ruin your entire day or maybe your week.
Primrose Freestone, senior lecturer in clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, recently flagged a few of the biggest repeat offenders and shared them with Science Alert. Her main point is simple, but we all seem to forget. The danger usually comes down to storage, timing, and whether the food has been sitting around long enough for bacteria to multiply.
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1. Chicken
Chicken goes bad in a way that feels especially unfair, since so many people save it for sandwiches, salads, or lazy fridge meals the next day. But cooked chicken has a high water content, lots of nutrients, and low acidity, which creates a pretty hospitable environment for food-poisoning bacteria.
Freestone warns that any chicken showing blood in the juices should not be eaten at all, since that can mean it’s undercooked. After cooking, leftovers should be covered, cooled, and refrigerated as soon as possible, ideally within two hours. In the fridge, three days is about the limit.
2. Rice Dishes
Rice is one of those foods people underestimate because it seems so plain, but that’s part of the problem. Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, and those spores can survive the cooking process. If the rice then sits at room temperature for too long, the bacteria can multiply and release toxins.
That applies to fried rice, risotto, burritos, and whatever else is built around cooked rice. Freestone recommends cooling it quickly, covering it, and getting it into the fridge as quickly as possible. If it’s being saved, it should be eaten within 24 hours.
3. Pizza
Cold pizza has built an entire reputation on being a next-morning savior after a hard night. Unfortunately, bacteria don’t care about that at all. Toppings, cheese, sauce, and even dried herbs can all create risk if the slices are left sitting out too long after cooking or delivery.
Freestone says leftover pizza should be refrigerated within two hours, stored covered, and eaten within two days. A slice that sat on the counter overnight might still look and smell completely normal, but don’t do it.
4. Canned Foods
Canned foods feel safer than other leftovers because they start out sealed and shelf-stable. Once opened, though, they follow the same rules as everything else in your fridge. Air gets in, contamination becomes possible, and time is on bacteria’s side.
Freestone says opened canned foods should be covered and refrigerated. Acidic foods like tomatoes can last five to seven days, while lower-acid foods like meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and pasta should generally be eaten within three days. The can buys time. It doesn’t buy immortality.
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