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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Before refrigeration people were a lot less picky about what was considered spoiled food. One of my grandmothers would never look at the dates, but just trusted her eyes, nose and tongue as to whether something was fit for consumption or not, regardless of how much it was past the 'best before' date.

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Back in my dumpster diving days, I discovered how useful the sense of smell can be. Surprisingly, using it to detect bad food also changed the way I enjoyed good food. It became very pleasurable to eat fresh food!

Best before not bad after

The labels include "best before", "sell by", and "use by", and they don't mean the same thing.

This is a great listen/read:

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1114335397/expiration-dates-l...

NPR Expiration dates lead to lots of food waste, though these dates vary widely by state July 28, 20225:14 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered

It works most of the time, but not always, traditions around food are important. Rice is particularly insidious, rice grains carry Bacillus cereus spores that germinate after cooking. The trouble is that that particular bug grows at fridge temperatures and generates a heat-stable exotoxin. Any prepared rice older than 24 hours has the potential to give you really roaring diarrhea, even if it doesn't taste off.

Wait so even if rice goes directly from the cooker to the refrigerator, it should be eaten within 24 hours? I break this rule all the time, no diarrhea yet

yeah, weird... i reheat leftover rice all the time, both plain or say pilaf leftovers, and haven't had any problems yet...

Good luck to both of you.

had to actually look that up:

According to FoodSafety.gov FoodKeeper App, leftover rice can be stored in the refrigerator for three to four days

(my foodkeeper said 4-6 days)

and the FDA is typically on the paranoid side of things, like recommending to toss chicken in a couple of hours.

The British NHS is much more conservative, they recommend one day: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can...

Food poisoning from improper handling of rice is sufficiently common to have inspired studies on the risk. Here's one that's thorough from an age when public health still mattered: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2130471/. The meat is on p. 440 - 10^5 - 10^8 colony-forming units is danger territory. Note - it's not the bacteria themselves that cause symptoms, it's an exotoxin that sends people to the bathroom, don't kid yourself into believing you "have immunity" or something.

It's really a mystery why the government is so incautious with the matter, food poisoning in the very young and elderly is life-threatening. If you are young and healthy you'll survive, but for 48 hours it's a beastly experience that you are better off without. My theory is institutional capture by business interests, after CDC shortened COVID isolation guidelines upon the insistence of the airline industry no one should ever believe a word from them ever again. Imagine people went off rice - it's big business in Arkansas!

Good tip, thank you!

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