Does food go bad?
We are constantly saving leftovers in containers and storing it in the fridge for a couple of weeks until we decide to throw it out. But does the food go bad?
I know everyone is thinking, yes, and you are probably correct in many ways.
You say it is bad because of mold growth, but the food under that growth may be still good. I am not suggesting that you eat it, but the food is probably still good. The mold is a byproduct of something else, not the food going bad. We use a lot of bacterial/fungal byproducts for and in food, examples; yogurts, cheeses, beer, wine, soy sauce, vinegars, and others that I am just not remembering right now. You open the loaf of bread and there is that gray/greenish hue on the edges, and it brings disappointment that there will be no toast this morning. But is the bread bad? Can you trim the tainted part off? Is it salvageable? Probably, but you are just too cheeved out to do it and just toss it away.
Now I have seen some foods go bad, I have seen fruits and vegetables wither and start to rot. But to some this process is only the beginning. An example is grapes. Grapes start to wither and if you wait long enough you have raisins. The same with plums, figs, and many others. Then we step in and force this process on other fruits and veggies, i.e., tomatoes (sun dried anyone), pineapple, bananas (yuck), cranberries, cherries, etc... Allowing grapes to wither on the vine increases the sugars and then we make Rieslings, which is one of my favorite wines, so good job rotting fruit and fungi.
Even milk will curdle and become cottage cheese or sour cream, we get disturbed when we pour sour milk over our twigs and berries cereal, yet we will eat a side of yogurt with it. Does that make sense to anyone?
We will age meat and over time it becomes delicious--for those that like the carnivore thing. Bacon, hams, sausages, just to name a few. There is an art to aging meat and if not done right it can turn rancid and host parasites, but when well cared (cured) for, a prosciutto or pancetta is a nice addition to many dishes. It can take up to two years to make good prosciutto. The same can be said for fermented sausages, you know your hard salamis and what not. We also will age fish, beef, and poultry in the same manner.
Most of the processed food that are consumed today will not go bad. There is the urban legend that Twinkies have a shelf life of decades, yet they are sold with an expiration date. Most processed foods have a 'use by date' on them, but I think that is just for legal and sales purposes. I have never seen a bottle of soda that has gone bad because it was too old (if stored properly and unopened), the same with a lot of other items.
Most of the processed food that are consumed today will not go bad. There is the urban legend that Twinkies have a shelf life of decades, yet they are sold with an expiration date. Most processed foods have a 'use by date' on them, but I think that is just for legal and sales purposes. I have never seen a bottle of soda that has gone bad because it was too old (if stored properly and unopened), the same with a lot of other items.
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