Does (Store-Bought) Salsa Go Bad?

[BrianL]

I think people are way too squeamish about that kind of stuff too. It's not like food instantly turns bad when the clock strikes midnight on the expiration date. It wasn't made by the Fairy Godmother.

If that salsa smelled fine and tasted fine, then it was probably fine. Personally, I like my salsa refrigerated just because I think it tastes better cold. Mayo too, unless I am using it on something warm, but then I want it warm. Room temperature mayo just seems not that good to me.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think people are way too squeamish about that kind of stuff too. It's not like food instantly turns bad when the clock strikes midnight on the expiration date. It wasn't made by the Fairy Godmother.

If that salsa smelled fine and tasted fine, then it was probably fine. Personally, I like my salsa refrigerated just because I think it tastes better cold. Mayo too, unless I am using it on something warm, but then I want it warm. Room temperature mayo just seems not that good to me.

You're probably right. But when it comes to food borne illness, I'm just not ok with "probably".

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Did you get sick?

I just read that you can keep opened ketchup out of the frig FOR A MONTH!

I know that's not the same as salsa but.....some same ingredients.

 

[Westcoastwild]

Did you get sick?

I just read that you can keep opened ketchup out of the frig FOR A MONTH!

I know that's not the same as salsa but.....some same ingredients.

More preservatives, though.

It isn't in my experience that tomatoes are the first to go bad in salsa- it's the onions. Especially if they are reds. Or if you drop sour cream in it. Or if your kitchen is abnormally hot and that salsa was already three weeks old...

I think you're fine. I have not died yet and I generally play "what food was in that container" a few times a year. Or "what's that smell". I have seen every stage of salsa...putrification? When it's off, you'll KNOW it's off. It's like opening rancid meat. it's not "iffy", it's OMG I'm burning these clothes.

As for butter, I keep it in the fridge because my dog likes to countersurf. He doesn't eat it. He just sticks his tongue into things. Beer, coffee, sour cream, cool cool whip, sauce. That alone would not would not bother me except I've seen the other...places...he has stuck his tongue.

 

[kimblebee]

I think people are way too squeamish about that kind of stuff too. It's not like food instantly turns bad when the clock strikes midnight on the expiration date. It wasn't made by the Fairy Godmother.

If that salsa smelled fine and tasted fine, then it was probably fine. Personally, I like my salsa refrigerated just because I think it tastes better cold. Mayo too, unless I am using it on something warm, but then I want it warm. Room temperature mayo just seems not that good to me.

I admit to strictly sticking to the best before date on milk. Usually, I won't drink it on the day it has stamped and will just put it down the sink. I drink a lot of milk so it doesn't usually get to that point.

Just two days ago I had a jug of milk 'expire' before I had a chance to finish it. I decided to be brave and try it because it was still half full. It was fine, and was still fine the day past the expiration date. I don't know if I'd do it again, but at least I didn't waste the milk.

 

[Diznygrl]

I've had milk that lasted well over a week past the expiration date, and milk that doesn't even make it to the date before going bad, so the date on there is more like a 'guideline' than an actual rule. As long as it smells fine and doesn't taste rancid, it's still good. If it's bad, you'll know. YOU'LL KNOW.

 

[aprilchem]

You guys realize that, in general, if you buy something off the shelf at the grocery store (viz, not refrigerated), you don't have to refrigerate it after opening it, right? Europeans and Australians are downright appalled that Americans refrigerate their mayonnaise.

I don't think this is a true statement. Jarred and canned food in the grocery store has most likely been pressure canned or vacuum sealed under an inert atmosphere (meaning in the presence of only nitrogen or some other non-reactive gas). It's the same as if I home-can food under sanitary conditions - I can store that food at room temperature as long as it's not opened.

Once it's opened, however, bacteria and other organisms can get into the jar, and since it's exposed to oxygen at that point those bacteria can grow. You could argue that sticking a knife in mayo only one time will not contaminate it, but I'm guessing your silverware drawer isn't an aseptic environment and you didn't take the knife directly from a sanitized dishwasher when you used it. So you run the risk of contaminating whatever it is with bacteria, which will then grow fairly quickly because your house is probably at a good temperature for colonization (my house in the summertime, for example, is around the same temperature I use to colonize bacteria in my lab). So putting the food in a cold refrigerator will greatly slow down bacterial growth and keep the food safe longer.

Granted, I'm not a food scientist (I'm a professional chemist), but the logic above makes sense to me.

 

[Vicki926]

Did you get sick?

I just read that you can keep opened ketchup out of the frig FOR A MONTH!

I know that's not the same as salsa but.....some same ingredients.

I have never refrigerated ketchup-i didn't even know you were supposed to. Lol it stays in my cabinet for way longer than a month..and has my entire life. In restaurants, ketchup is always sitting in the table..

As a kid, we never refrigerated peanut butter, ketchup, mustard, jelly, butter.

But mayo, definitely..then and now, it's refrigerated.

I refrigerate jelly and mustard, but keep peanut butter and ketchup in the cabinet.
I keep sticks of butter in the fridge, but keep a container of Breakstone's whipped butter out on the counter.

As for the salsa, I refrigerate after opening, and usually throw it out within a couple of weeks if it's still there.

 

[wenrob]

I have never refrigerated ketchup-i didn't even know you were supposed to. Lol it stays in my cabinet for way longer than a month..and has my entire life. In restaurants, ketchup is always sitting in the table..

As a kid, we never refrigerated peanut butter, ketchup, mustard, jelly, butter.

But mayo, definitely..then and now, it's refrigerated.

I refrigerate jelly and mustard, but keep peanut butter and ketchup in the cabinet.
I keep sticks of butter in the fridge, but keep a container of Breakstone's whipped butter out on the counter.

As for the salsa, I refrigerate after opening, and usually throw it out within a couple of weeks if it's still there.

My parents refrigerate their peanut butter. You can't make a PB & J at their house without angst, lol. I keep mine in the cabinet but I put my almond butter in the refrigerator. Not because it needs it but because I like it cold. My SIL freaked when she saw me pull the canned parm out of the cabinet. I don't think you could make that stuff go bad if you tried. We keep fresh in the fridge. Let's see, I keep syrup in the cabinet but jam and jelly in the fridge. Grandma always kept the jam on the counter. I keep things like ketchup, mustard, tabasco, hot sauce, cooking wine, Lea & Perrins in the fridge even though logically I know it's fine out. Mostly because I don't have a cabinet to dedicate to the crazy amounts of condiments in this house. Butter on the counter but the other sticks in the fridge. Death by warm mayo was pounded into my brain so I keep it refrigerated but don't think anything about leaving deviled eggs or potato salad out for a couple hours. I opened a new bottle of Ken's Thousand Island last night and when I opened the pantry this morning it was sitting on the shelf. DS saw it new sitting there new so that's where he put it after dinner. It was probably fine but I tossed it. Salsa? Eh. I leave it out all day in a dish when people are over but would probably toss it if it were out all night.

 

[Deb]

I think I have to agree with you here (just a bit). I read an article recently about the FDA possibly changing the standards on food code dating due to the amount of food that gets wasted and ends up in the trash though it is still good to eat. Some items with sell by dates boggle my mind because I know they will still be good long beyond those dates. For example, dry spices, flour, bottled water, vacuum packaged dry goods, etc.

I think I've read that the issue with bottled water is the bottle, not the water.

 

[kimblebee]

Never heard of putting peanut butter in the fridge.

It might be a good idea in the summer though. It gets so hot and humid that by the middle of July the PB is definitely a liquid, not a 'solid'.

 

[asta]

I just threw out a container of Jack's Special Mild Salsa. It was very obvious that it had gone bad and it had been refrigerated the whole time. Something was growing on the top and it looked like the moisture had gone out of it.