1. Food Poisoning Follies
Food poisoning, yuck. Food poisoning is a generalized term for nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. Surprisingly, you can get food poisoning from pasta--especially if it's not prepared or served carefully. Pasta needs to be kept cool and dry before cooking to reduce the chance of food poisoning from mold or bacteria. After you've opened a bag of dried pasta, keep the opened bags or boxes of pasta in an air-tight container to keep it dry and away from insects. If pasta isn't kept dry, mold or fungus can grow on it and it will be difficult to cook.
2. Boil and Bubble
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil before adding any pasta. A full rolling boil not only insures the pasta will be cooked properly, it will help kill bacteria, especially from pasta that contains eggs. Cooking pasta in a microwave isn't sufficient to kill bacteria or reduce the incidence of food poisoning. Microwaved water comes to a boil, then stops. The way a microwave works is to bring a food to temperature, then reduce the temperature. Because the water doesn't remain at a full boil, pasta that is cooked from water heated in a microwave may still contain bacteria.
3. Hot and Steamy
Hot foods like boiled pasta must remain hot to reduce the chance of food poisoning. After the pasta has been cooked, keep it hot by placing the pasta pot in a hot-water bath. The drained pasta can be placed in a bowl, which is then placed in a pot of hot water. Some people prefer to keep the pasta in the water used to boil it and turn off the heat before it's done. If you can't keep the pot of cooked pasta in a hot water bath, keep it at room temperature for no longer than 2 hours. After 2 hours, chill the pasta quickly by placing it in a shallow dish and refrigerate immediately. Leftover pasta can be re-heated by placing it in boiling water. Reheat pasta only once, making sure you reheat only the amount of pasta you need.
4. Saucy Stuff
Keep the sauce for your pasta separate to reduce the risk of food poisoning. Meat sauce for spaghetti should be thoroughly heated and very hot. Sauces containing creams or egg should also be heated to a very hot temperature. By cooking the pasta and sauce separately, the pasta dish won't have a cross-contamination issue. Keep the sauce as hot as the pasta to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
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