‘Can I Still Eat That?’ How Long Your Favorite Foods Stay Edible

Spoiled food is something most amateur chefs have to deal with. At best, it could produce a yucky off-taste; at worst, it could make you very sick.

“The biggest cause of food spoilage is probably bacteria,” explains Joe O’Leary, Ph.D, professor of food science at the University of Kentucky. “We get some chemical, some enzymatic spoilage, but generally bacteria are the biggest cause of spoilage.”

The longer you let food sit in the fridge, the more bacteria are likely to be present in and on it. The more bacteria, the higher the likelihood that something could make you sick. Of course, if you’re like most people, you probably throw most of your food in the fridge to slow the growth of these bacteria.

“When you lower the temperature you slow the rates of chemical reactions and microbial growth,” O’Leary explains. “Lowering the temperature about 10 degrees centigrade will change the reaction rate about tenfold. Pasteurized milk, if you keep it in the fridge when you get home from the store, might keep about two weeks. If you let it sit at room temperature in summer weather, it might not even last two days.”

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