Once again, TikTok has spurred intense conversations relating to food safety.

In recent weeks, a 2008 news story resurfaced on the social media platform , terrifying users about the dangers of eating reheated leftover starches, particularly rice and pasta. On TikTok, its referred to as fried rice syndrome.

Originally published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology , the story focused on the death of a Brussels-based student following his consumption of a plate of meal-prepped spaghetti that he supposedly cooked Sunday, left out, and five days later reheated and ate it.

So that may get you wondering: How long can food be left out and eaten again? Is it safer to eat leftovers out of a fridge? What, exactly, did the late student actually consume?

We asked all of that and more to food safety experts.

What is fried rice syndrome?

In the case of the Brussels student, the illness was food poisoning caused by the Bacillus cereus bacterium.

Found throughout the environment in its dormant, spore form, the microorganism doesnt usually cause an illness, explained Dr. Ellen Shumaker , a food safety expert and director of outreach for the Safe Plates program at North Carolina State University.

The non-germinated organism is often seen in soil and starchy food (again, like rice or pasta). According to Shumaker, it is mostly associated with cooked rice, hence the syndromes name.

Once cooked, explained the expert, the spores can germinate, become active, and start creating toxins. Eating the toxin is what makes people sick, Shumaker said.

The spores of the organism germinate in response to the heat of cooking, said Dr. Donald Schaffner , a professor and extension specialist in food science at Rutgers. The organism survives the cooking process and then grows in foods not properly refrigerated quickly. Once the organism reaches relatively high concentrations (hundreds of thousands or millions of organisms), it can cause illness through infection or the formation of a heat-stable toxin. When people ingest the organism or the toxin, they become ill.

The spores generally germinate when the food sits in what Shumaker defines as the temperature danger zone, between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit .

To avoid bacteria growth, it is recommended to keep foods out of this temperature range for longer than four hours, she said.

Its important to note that although the germination process may kick off during cooking time, it continues while the food sits at room temperature.

How long can we leave starchy food at room temperature before it goes bad?

Once cooked, the food is ripe ground for spore germination unless the dish is immediately put into the fridge, which would stop the multiplication of the active bacteria.

The general common sense recommendation is to leave cooked foods at room temperature for no more than two hours, Schaffer noted. If cooked foods are promptly refrigerated, it means that the organism will not multiply to dangerous levels.