One of life’s hidden values is heating up leftover Chinese food. Little did we know, reheating rice can actually be bad for you. You can get horrible food poisoning from eating reheated rice, not because of the microwave, but from the way the rice has been stored after being cooked the first time.

According to INDEPENDENT, Uncooked rice is likely to contain traces of Bacillus cereus, a bacteria strand that can cause food poisoning, that can survive when rice is cooked. Bacteria can also grow if the rice is left standing at room temperature, creating toxins that can cause vomiting or diarrhea. Moral of the story is that the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria will grow making the rice unsafe to eat.

You must store rice right way-and quickly- if you are hoping to dig into it later! To not deal with this, eat or serve rice right away, within the hour is recommended. You can keep the rice in the fridge, for no more than one day, before reheating.