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Reheating a takeaway (or if you’re American, take-out) may seem like a good idea at the end of a hard day – but many of us have learnt that there can be a heavy price to pay. Around one million people in the UK suffer food poisoning each year, and it’s often because we have failed to take a few simple steps.
在劳累的一天结束时，重新加热外卖好像是个不错的主意，但很多人已经发现这样做可能会付出很大的代价。每年大约有100万人在英国因为食物中毒而就医，而其中许多人都是因为忽略了一些简单的步骤。
In a video, Michael Mosley of the TV program Trust Me I’m a Doctor uses a thermal camera to analyze whether reheated takeaway food is safe or not.
在某个视频中，电视节目《相信我，我是医生》的主持人Michael Mosley使用热成像相机分析了重新加热的外卖是否安全。
As Mosley explains, the trick is to heat the food until it is 82°C (176°F) throughout to be sure that you can kill any harmful bacteria.
正如Mosley所解释的那样，关键是要将食物从内到外加热至82°C（176°F），这样可以确保杀死任何有害细菌。
That’s easier said than done: while the outside may seem to be steaming, the inside could have remained cooler – hosting a pocket of living bacteria. It’s for this reason that it’s important to stir the dish so that all the food is heated evenly.
这说起来容易，做起来难：尽管外面可能看起来冒着蒸汽，内部却可能保持较低温度——从而滋生一部分活细菌。因此，搅拌食物，使其均匀加热是非常重要的。
Even after having followed these steps, you shouldn’t reheat a meal more than once. Each time it cools down, you offer more opportunities for the harmful bacteria to multiply, making it harder to kill them all off the next time you stick them in the oven or microwave.
即使遵循了这些步骤，你仍然不应该将食物加热超过一次。每次食物冷却时，都会给有害细菌更多繁殖的机会，这会让下一次你再次将其放入烤箱或微波炉时，难以完全杀死细菌。
This is particularly true for one particular takeaway favorite – rice – which can host spores of a nasty bug called Bacillus cereus. When left in food, the bacteria produces toxins that trigger diarrhea and vomiting. Unfortunately, these toxins are “heat stable” meaning that even if you heat the rice to the point of killing all the bacteria, the toxins will survive – and you’ll soon notice the effects of ingesting those poisons.
对于外卖中一种特别常见的食物——米饭，这个问题尤为严重。米饭中可能携带有害细菌蜡样芽孢杆菌的孢子。如果这些细菌存在于食物中，它们会产生毒素，导致腹泻和呕吐。不幸的是，这些毒素具有“热稳定性”，意味着即使你加热米饭到足以杀死所有细菌的温度，毒素仍然会存活——你很快就会感受到摄入这些毒素的后果。
If you do want to save your leftovers, you should cool the rice quickly – before the bacteria can start churning out those toxins – and refrigerate within an hour of cooking. Otherwise you really are “playing Russian roulette with your guts”, says Mosley.
如果你想保存剩饭，应在细菌开始产生毒素之前迅速让米饭冷却，并且在烹饪后一小时内将其冷藏。否则，Mosley说，你真的就是在“拿你的肠胃玩俄罗斯转盘”。
Takeaway (外卖) / Take-out (美式外卖): Refers to food that is bought at a restaurant or store to be eaten elsewhere.
Food poisoning (食物中毒): Illness caused by eating contaminated food.
Thermal camera (热成像摄影机): A device that detects infrared radiation and visualizes heat patterns.
Bacteria (细菌): Microorganisms that can cause illness.
Toxins (毒素): Poisonous substances produced by some bacteria.
Heat stable (热稳定性): Substances that do not break down when exposed to heat.
Refrigerate (冷藏): To store food in a cool place to prevent spoilage.
