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?
In: 1789
Pasturization is when a sealed item is boiled/heated to kill any bacteria in it, effectively rendering it “sterile”, but when you break the seal, bacteria in the air can now enter the product and contaminate it.
Refrigeration slows down the growth of bacteria, but does not prevent it entirely.
In addition, some foods may degrade/separate from heat over time, which is why they also benefit from being kept refrigerated.
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