Eli5 how do chips become stale when exposed to air for a period of time but are still “ok” to eat, however other foods will spoil and are not safe?
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How food go bad is in large part a question of water content. Bacteria need water to survive so they can grow in food that contains it and make it dangerous to eat.
Quite dry food like chips will loo any water they contain before bacteria can reach dangerous levels.
If you look at food at the supermarket the produce that is not refrigerated and lasts a long time even if you open the packet is very dry. Nonrefrigerated food that contains water will be in tight containers like cans or jars where the manufacturing process kills all microorganisms and no news can get in. If you look at the packaging they tend to say store refrigerated when opened and might not last long when opened.
Meat exists as both. Fresh meat with lots of water will go back quickly if not refrigerated but beef jerky does no, it simply does not have enough water,
Put chips on a plate with some water they can absorb and you likely see them go bad quite quickly, that is if the salt content is not to high
Oils and even honey are dry as in do not contain practically any water. You can also stop bacteria grow in another ways like high salt content like soy sauce
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