If reheating food to 165 degrees or more kills all the bacteria why is it dangerous to reheat food more than once

Bacteria produce toxins which remain after heating, even though the bacteria may have been killed.

I'm always a bit unsure of whether the re-heating twice thing counts if you use a pre-cooked ingredient. For example say I make a chicken pie with leftover chicken from the Sunday roast. Does cooking the pie count as the second time you've re-heated the chicken (as you've already cooked it for the roast)? Therefore you can't re-heat the pie as that would be the third time the chicken has been cooked/heated. Sometimes I've bought already cooked prawns too (if fresh haven't been available) and used them in something.

I've always re-heated stuff like this without any issues but always wonder if I'm technically doing something wrong.

It's dangerous because people here love blindly follow rules.

Mainly because people tend to let the food cool slowly, which over several iterations gives plenty of time for bacteria to multiply. The bacteria can produce waste products that are not destroyed by cooking.

That said, it depends on the food and how you store it. Curries and stews tend to be better the longer they are cooked for, and if they are in a pan with a good lid then I doubt there's much real danger.

I knew a woman who did some housekeeping for a GP and the doctor would keep pans of soup sitting on a pilot light for days. She'd come home from the surgery, move the pan to a burner till the soup was hot, ladle out a bowl then move the pan back to the pilot light.

When this woman suggested throwing out some yoghurt that had been in the fridge for weeks, the doctor was adamant it wouldn't go off unopened.

I'd be interested to know if instances of food poisoning is down since use by dates were introduced into the UK. I think it has always been a rare ailment in this country, so we obviously have good hygiene as a general rule.

Nothing like a well informed general opinion!

Insulting to most and wrong at the same time, you will fit right in on DS but maybe not the F&D section.

Meh, you blindly follow rules all you want.

Just make sure you follow them all.

Just to be clear, I follow some rules but not blindly!

This is possible you know. Many people welcome the chance to become better informed and seek answers to questions they do not know. They do this by reading up and/or asking people that are better informed than they are about the particular subject.

Assuming all on here are morons who blindly follow rules is insulting to us all here -

is that your point?

You said it not me.

You're the one that started with the insults.

and yet people who throw perfectly good food away, will happily order a kebab with meat sliced off a large "beefburger" that's been rotating on a spit for a couple of weeks.

and do the same in hot sunny climates without a care.

My wife got seriously ill, we are sure from one of those, and never ever again.

The only rules to follow are common sense. If it's been stored properly, and not left out on the counter for ages before reheating I don't see a problem. With shop bought stuff it's knowing how the product has been handled is a potential concern.
For example, I'll boil up the bones from a roast chicken for stock, then use in soups or stews. Sometimes freezing the stock until needed. These soups/stews then get reheated after cooking the first time, or refrigerated/frozen until needed then reheated. So technically it can be up to 4 times for me. I never caught food poisoning once this way.

It's precautionary as bacteria may grow.

I've never had an issue myself even reheating takeaway a couple off times including rice .

I am an oldie and I used my nose before sell buy dates were around.

This is quite a timely thread, because there was an article in The Times on Saturday about how this is just a myth.

I used to live on a dairy farm in the 80's and was always nipping into the dairy with a jug to get some milk for my cornflakes, the milk was pumped into a big tank next to the milking parlour, sometimes the milk wasn't at a high enough level for me to reach it, so I'd pop into the dairy and squeeze the teet of a cow who wasn't hooked up yet to get a bit of milk! I had no idea back then that unpasturized milk was a big no no, I was never ill though and have never had food poisoning in my life, maybe some folk are just lucky or have an iron gut! The milk was very yellowy and throthy nothing like pasteurised milk.

I have had unpasteurised cheese, beautiful and had no problems.

lots of cheeses in france are made from lait cru.

they are allowed to sell them everywhere.

I think people have to understand the basics of food hygeine before slagging off people for "blindly" obeying food packaging rules.

If you understand the principals you can then make your own judgement calls.

People just promoting igonoring these guidelines are just being ignorant.

In another thread about reheating a chicken pastry product, the above poster said

"No problem at all.
What do people think heating food does?
Activate germs in some way?"



This poster is still giving advice in this thread!

I have no problem with unpasteurised milk/cheese, I understand the risks and and feel they are worth the taste benefits for me. This is my choice and I understand that some may choose differently.

As I said, do not follow rules blindy but understand the principal and then make your judgement calls.

Only reheat an amount you will eat, keep the rest in the fridge, it will be fine for a few days, put it to freezer if you need to keep it longer. But frankly how many days you want to eat the same food.