Love leftovers? 5 stale foods that could be dangerous for health

We all have days when we are either too tired or just not in the mood to cook a fresh meal. Taking some leftovers out of the fridge and reheating feels like the best fix in such situations.

But did you know that this habit could sometimes harm our health? Some foods can lose nutrition and actually become toxic upon reheating. Here are some foods that you should never eat stale!

RICE

Spores of a common food poisoning bacteria flourish in rice. Cooking cannot kill this bacterium and if you leave warm rice out for too long, the bacteria actually get activated, making the stale rice toxic. NHS experts say improper storage after cooking is the problem here and not reheating. Either eat your rice right after you cook it or cool and refrigerate it as quickly as possible.

POTATO

The most versatile vegetable of all, even potatoes shouldn’t be consumed stale. According to a US Food Safety report, storing baked potatoes wrapped in foil has been linked to cases of botulism. Botulism is a severe type of foodborne illness and can lead to weakness, speech difficulties and blurred vision. After baking foil-wrapped potatoes, never leave them at room temperature or in a warming oven to avoid germination of this bacteria.

EGGS

The American Institute of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that a stale egg or any kind of dish made of eggs should not be reheated. A germ called Salmonella can grow in stale eggs causing great harm. The CDC advised that you should not keep eggs or foods made with eggs warm or at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

SPINACH

Green leafy veg spinach is super healthy but also highly perishable and loses nutrients very quickly on the shelf. You should also never reheat an already cooked spinach dish as the nitrate content in the veggie can turn cancerous. This can also have an impact on the body’s oxygenation capacity.

CHICKEN

If you have a habit of storing stale chicken and reheating it several times, then it's probably best to change this up. Eating undercooked or reheated chicken can cause food poisoning. US CDC advises that you must refrigerate or freeze leftover chicken within 2 hours.