Had a conversation with my wife today about the unopened mayo we had sitting in the pantry and it made me think – how does it make sense for a food (for instance mayo) to sit in a 65-70 degree pantry for months and be perfectly fine, but as soon as it’s opened it needs to be refrigerated. In my mind, if something needs to be refrigerated at any point, wouldn’t it always need to be refrigerated? The seal on the unopened product keeps the item safe, and the refrigerator does that when the seal is off? How do those two things relate?
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When it’s in a sealed jar, it’s been sterilized to kill any bacteria inside the jar, can, etc. It’s a vaccuum where no air can get in. Once it’s opened and exposed to air with bacteria floating around, it has a limited lifespan before it will eventually spoil. But the cold air of a fridge does dramatically slow that process.
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