What Happens When Food Goes Bad?

You've seen your fruit get moldy, or maybe your bread products. Sometimes old meat gets a funky smell. But what is actually happening scientifically when your food goes bad? It's pretty interesting. Join Hank Green for a new episode of SciShow and learn all about it!

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Original Episodes:

[rogue]

"Most people and a lot of other animals hate being vomited on" is a great sentence in context and a better sentence without context.

[heavymetalbassist]

I love a good scishow compilation. Its fun to see Hank slightly less stressed out and the many hair styles of now our long haired friend Michael

[terraknight]

When the pandemic began I had a sandwich inside a plastic bag in my backpack
Not needing to use my backpack, I put it in my closet
Well one day I needed to stay at my grandmother's for a few days while the floors at my house were being replaced
It turns out a year is enough time for a sandwich to convert into brown liquid

[pandit-jee-bihar]

Word of the day: "oxidation party" .

Chemistry could get rid of those scientific naming convention to sound a bit funkier.

[elizaparakeet]

I love to see the recommendations to throw moldy food in the compost bin as opposed to the trash and bonus happy to see how they eventually get down to explaining how and why to properly compost.

[jehmarxx]

I fell asleep while studying and I just had a weird dream about discovering a lot of moldy bread that I forgot I bought. Yes. That's what woke me up. That was a lot of bread.

[Shaden]

To prevent cut apples from becoming brown, coat them with a bit of citrus juice like lemon or lime or orange.

[GreatestCornholio]

I used to bruise apples intentionally when I was a kid, I found the bruised areas sweeter and juicer for some reason.

[AnnoyingNewslettersPage]

I've been composting for about a year now. I started with just a small extra trash can on my balcony, but then someone tossed their compost tumbler on the curb so I upgraded.

I did a little bit of checking to see what I showed or shouldn't throw in there, and most of my compostable waste at home tends to be cellulose/lignen matter, so that keeps things going nice and slow.

At one point, however, with that much cardboard and paper waste in there I was growing a colony of tall skinny mushrooms.

[chainmaillekid]

You can't do a food going bad compilation on leftovers day.

[lordarthur]

This video made me remember when I cut a spoiled onion open, it looked completed fine before I cut it... I will never forget the smell, it was worst than spoiled milk or meat.

[RainbowMama]

You missed a fun one! Some fruits can produce acetone when they go bad! I learned this when I found a very expired container of sliced peaches in my fridge. There was no sign of mold or other spoilage, until I opened the lid and took a whiff. It smelled like nail polish remover!

[masterimbecile]

As a wise man once said: "Only shooting stars, break the mOoOooOold."

[robertgermainii]

Hooray for science I love this channel

[LeadTrumpet]

Having MCAS has made me learn everything about the food ripening and spoilage process and it’s kinda disturbing.

But the bacteria on food creates histamine and normally food low in histamine can be high in histamine rather quick (not a problem for most people but significant problem for those with overactive or too many mast cells). I have learned how to avoid leftovers if at all possible.

[grell]

Actually, in my household oxidized apples are seen as a snack for people with stomach problems. You just slice it really thin or you grate it and wait for about 20 min and then you eat it. It's really sweet, but not overpoweringly sweet. We also give people very soft bananas and carrots. Don't know why it works but it does.

[SpirusFilms]

When in doubt, throw it out
(Or compost if possible)

[Pyro-etvs]

I love oat milk. It strikes a perfect balance between health, environmental safety, taste, and the fact that oat milk can last a month in the fridge before going bad.

[danielm]

Flashback to the episode of Dinosaurs where the baby gets kidnapped by the food (rodents) in the fridge. The oldest food said:

“Why did we kidnap him? Food doesn’t die- it goes bad.”

[grapes]

12:19
The way this is phrased makes it sound like you can’t compost meat because the soil will get a taste for it & go after us next