Who doesn’t love fried rice? It’s a simple and delicious meal that fills you up and leaves you satisfied.

If this popular dish isn’t prepared properly, it could put you in the hospital, despite what you might think.

Because that’s what happened to Texas woman Germaine Mobley after she fell ill when she ate fried rice at a restaurant outside Dallas.

62-year-old Mobley enjoys dining out. She has had her pick of delectable cuisine since she lives in Texas. She knew she could not make a mistake when choosing dinner because the vast state at the Mexican border is home to so many different cultures. But as she discovered after eating the fried rice, it was simply not the case, and as a result, she may never again eat the dish.

However, Mobley couldn’t imagine what was happened, as she quickly fell ill and found herself getting “very, very sick” on her drive home and then “started having problems breathing,” after indulging in a dish of fried rice at a restaurant.  And she would have rushed to the emergency room if she had known that she had just gotten fried rice syndrome.

Mobley made an effort to ignore her discomfort and carry on with her day. But she was unable to. She spent the following days in the intensive care unit, and she now wants the truth about “fried rice syndrome” to be known to other people.

Bacillus cereus, otherwise known as “fried rice syndrome.” An illness found on food that typically sits at room temperature for too long, it can cause cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea, and basically make your life a living hell.

In an interview with Inside Edition, culinary expert Celeste Rogers gave an explanation, “Often we will cook batches of rice, we will leave them out at room temperature to cool. It is that period of time that we need to watch. We have a max of six hours to cool that rice.” Rogers acknowledges that this happens frequently to chefs, but it cannot go on for longer than six hours.

Normally, the symptoms go away in two to three days, but Mobley’s case was severe. She reportedly began vomiting immediately after lunch and spent eight days in the ICU, including two days during which she needed a ventilator to help her breathe. The report claims that Mobley has pre-existing medical issues that have made her situation worse.

In order to battle the restaurant she believes almost killed her, Mobley has since hired Kathryn Knotts as her attorney.

Mobley’s attorney, Kathryn Knotts said, “’Fried rice syndrome’ sounds like a joke, but it’s very serious. I remember going, ‘I’ve never even heard of this.’ She wasn’t sure what could even really be done, she just wanted this to not continue to happen to other people.”

Rogers said, “To cool it quickly, we are going to get it on a flat surface so that it has more surface area to cool off.”

You can only imagine the agony Mobley went through as a result of eating the rotten fried rice if you’ve ever experienced food poisoning. She won’t be eating fried rice anytime soon, not only from the restaurant where she claimed to have fallen ill but from any restaurant, because she spent more than a week in the hospital.

Watch the video below for more details:

Sources: AWM, Delish, Inside Edition

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