Doctors are blaming leftover rice and lo mein, a Chinese noodle, after a teen from Massachusetts went into septic shock and had to have his legs and fingers amputated.
Yahoo News reports he suffered multiple organ failure as well as vomiting, chills, chest pains, headaches, blurry vision, and neck stiffness.
Doctors diagnosed him with meningococcal purpura fulminan disease and when the college student got worse, they amputated both legs and all his fingers, according to USA Today.
His roommate also ate the leftovers and began to vomit.
WFLA reports that bacteria can grow quickly if food is left out in temperatures between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140. Food after being cooked should be stored at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
Leftovers should be put in storage containers and stored in the refrigerator at under 40 degrees.
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Why are you emphasizing Chinese food in this article? The point of the article is the importance of proper food safety measures regardless of the type of cuisine. Emphasizing that the food was Chinese serves to associate “toxic” with “Chinese,” which is counterproductive to the purpose of ASAMNews.
We can see how you feel that way. From our perspective, if there are foods that we eat that need to be stored properly, then this article serves as a proper warning. Personally, I was not aware that something as basic as rice and noodles needs to be stored properly. I’ve always associated food storage with meats. But maybe that’s just my own ignorance.
Let’s be clear. The leftover food went bad due to improper storage and failure to reheat the food to kill off the deadly bacteria. Don’t blame the Chinese food. Any type of rotted food could make someone severely ill or even cause death. All of the stories on this topic seem to have been written in such a sensational way to make the food–namely lo men–the culprit and that’s not the case.
Indeed
I can understand the sensitivity towards criticizing a popular ethnic dish (e.g., lo mein) — but I agree with Randall that this is primarily for informational purposes concerning a public health matter. As a Black American, I don’t believe I would take offense if my ethnic food (e.g., “soul” food) was recognized as the culprit of a particular bacterial poisoning incident. That seems to be besides the point — from my perspective anyway.
P.S. – my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to this student and his family.
Randall, All perishable food needs to be stored properly to avoid food poisoning. They’re not like a bag of chips or a box of cereal which are dry and have a longer shelf life. If you looked under a microscope to see the bacteria that was produced by leaving food unrefrigerated and not reheated, you would probably be horrified.