In a thread last week we mentioned how careful we must all be when reheating rice (best avoided altogether as cooked rice has bacterial spores on the surface which can cause food poisoning) but also how to prepare rice safely as it contains high levels of arsenic.
I just stumbled across this very informative blog which many may find interesting as it describes the hows and wherefors of the danger:-
Very interesting CDreamer, thank you. Xxx
Hopefully not a problem for people who only eat rice about once a week. Very interesting about the pressure treated wood though - my husband and I have an ongoing dispute about him using pressure treated wood offcuts as kindling for the wood burner!
Copper, chromium, arsenic (CCA) was banned in 2006 with a few exceptions. It was designed to last 30 - 40 years so some will be available for reuse for quite a while.
Anything built before this will likely contain CCA. Anything in situ will be safe and there is no need to remove it, but it should not be burnt, as this releases the arsenic and there is a potential for serious health effects.
While current pressure treated wood still contains copper, it is thought to be safe but remains under review.
Thank you CD, that link was most interesting.
I guess in the UK rice wasn't used much in most of the population's early lives, apart from in rice pudding. I'll certainly make sure I wash it now before cooking. I was disappointed to hear that there is more arsenic in brown rice. There I was thinking I was being healthy by using it.
I’ll stick with red/black rice mostly as health wise it has more fibre and less starch but mostly simply because I like the nutty taste.
Me too. I like the red and black rices but they're costly compared with brown.
I've never had the red or black rice. Can you buy it at the supermarket?
Yes - only found red rice in Tesco though. It’s nothing like white/brown rice though. Much more fibre so won’t go light & fluffy. If you want an excellent substitute then Bulgar Wheat - no dangers, quick to cook & about half the calories! Red rice is excellent for helping reducing high cholesterol and an ingredient in plant sterols by the way.
Ah, thinks I, I have an unopened bag of bulgur wheat in the cupboard. Just looked at the expiry date Nov 2020. Will get some more and use that instead of rice from now on. Thanks for the tip.
I mix them together before cooking though the white rice gets a bit overcooked. I used to buy a ready mixed brand of white, red and wild rice but it was very expensive so I started buying them separately and mixing myself . Wild rice has become hard to find even in health food shops so I'm substituting black rice . I love bulghar wheat but my husband doesn't.
thanks for the info, as big rice eaters my own method is rinse rice, then soak for a few hours then rinse again before cooking in fresh water, rinse again after cooking the advantages of this way is it’s cooks very quickly removes lots of the starch and remains fluffy. I can’t guarantee it helps remove arsenic but foolproof rice every time
Thank you for that. VERY interesting!
a friend of mine was an engineer in a Findus factory, and has always said that of all the foodstuffs they processed, rice was by far the most problematic in terms of dangerous and rapid bacterial growth.
His advice was and is: if you keep some of your takeaway curry for the next day, bin the rice.
Thanks for posting, improving your diet is a constant in our lives.
gosh all those years of keeping last nights left over curry and rice…..😳
Oh well done CDreamer! I was going to post a thank you to everyone. So much help from people. But it's good to have this part flagged as people don't know about it.
My Mum was raised in Malaysia and her Ama always washed the rice before cooking - rinse till clear Mum always said. So I've never done anything different and btw it improves the quality of rice in cooking it too. Mum was a dab hand at rice! But the arsenic thing i only discovered recently from The Doctor's Kitchen podcast. I ajeays soak my broen basmati overnight and discard the water, and rinse again before cooking.
Really interesting.
Thanks for the informative article, however, correct me if I’m wrong, but I found no mention of dangers of re-heating, did not mention high levels of arsenic…yes normal, and naturally occurring, as found in many foods. The takeaway I got was rice well, and avoid southern US grown varieties.
Reheating is about bacterial spores on cooked rice which germinate in warm, humid environments when rice is allowed to cool naturally in a dish/pan, then the rice is reheated - which doesn’t kill the bacteria.
Arsenic comes from the growing of rice - separate issues.
I've eaten rice all my life, and reheat cooked rice often. To my knowledge, I've never suffered any ill-effects. Lucky? Or will I soon experience the cumulative impact?
Very interesting article. Thank you. I have never soaked rice before cooking but having found out that the Camargue rice I buy for non Indian dishes is high in arsenic I am going to from now on.
good article thank you for posting. I have known this and had switched to organic basmati from India a while back. Good reminders
The article said buy rice from California. I don't. Too many cases of ecoli contaminated produce orginate from that state.
Does this include rice grown in Europe, I live in Italy in a rice growing area and have never heard of any problems with rice. I have asked several people here and no-one knows anything about it.
Yes - if it’s grown anywhere pesticides have been used. It seems China has the best controls so rice grown there seems to have lowest levels. When you start looking you find numerous studies in last 10 years so it’s really surprising that very few people seem to have any awareness.
ec.europa.eu/research-and-i...
It's 6 years old so hopefully they have resolved some of the issues !
I did note the authors sales pitch for his recently developed artichoke risotto in the last paragraph maybe this was the reason for the gloomy report he wants us all the buy his rice product!
Probably true 😅. Good article though.
My son had come across information about freezing cooked rice as it lowers the carb. Being a T2D rice is high in carb but knowing what you said about arsenic I’m a bit reticent. What do you think?
I don’t know enough about it but personally I wouldn’t chance it.
The freezing does reduce starch in bread - I freeze my bread and toast directly from frozen, not only does it taste better but it supposedly reduces the starch content so I guess the same could be true of rice but it would be how it’s done that would worry me.
I make my own bread and freeze it 👍🏻 But the rice I feel could be risky.
Can life ever be normal again
Apixaban subconjunctival haemorrhage 
AF and leaking heart valves.
Should I go into the pharmacy myself?
