Cooked Rice Needs Fast Cooling, Not Just Reheating
Raw rice can carry spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that survives cooking and can germinate if cooked rice sits at room temperature for hours. The bacteria itself is killed by reheating, but some strains produce a heat-stable toxin before that happens, which reheating doesn't destroy. Cool cooked rice quickly (spread it out rather than leaving a deep pot to cool slowly), refrigerate within about two hours, and eat leftovers within a few days.
Sources & methodology: These tips draw on established food-science references —
Harold McGee's food-science writing, America's Test Kitchen /
Cook's Illustrated testing, Serious Eats'
technique reporting, USDA food safety guidance,
and peer-reviewed food-safety research (including UC Davis
cutting-board studies) — not reworded recipe-blog consensus.