# How do embalmed bodies decompose?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-embalmed-bodies-decompose/779047>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 5, 2017, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-embalmed-bodies-decompose/779047 "2017-02-05T05:02:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cjackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@cjackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjackson)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-embalmed-bodies-decompose/779047/1 "2017-02-05T05:02:47Z")

</div>

There is a little girl in Italy that died about one hundred years ago that looks almost as if she is just sleeping. Is it normal for embalmed corpses to stay preserved for so long, or is she a special case? What is the decomposition process like for embalmed bodies?

Also, why does the meat at the grocery store not feel stiff, like it was in rigor mortis?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-embalmed-bodies-decompose/779047/2 "2017-02-05T05:40:57Z")

</div>

Not going to search on the first question, but rigor mortis only lasts about 72 hours. According to [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigor_mortis), rigor mortis must be addressed by the meat industry because how a carcass comes out of it affects meat quality.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-embalmed-bodies-decompose/779047/3 "2017-02-05T07:10:14Z")

</div>

I’ve talked to a few funeral directors, and I’ve read some on the subject.

Modern embalming does essentially nothing effective after the first week or so. To really preserve a body would require an embalming solution so strong that the body would look very unnatural at the funeral.

Sometimes there will be a body that encounters unusual local conditions, that will preserve the body in a very remarkable way. Sometimes this preservation will degrade very quickly in the presence of fresh air.

One way that bodies can be preserved is by the formation of adipocere, although nobody would call that “almost sleeping.”

> **[Adipocere | Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/bulgarian-history-biographies/adipocere)**
>
> Adipocere Also known as “grave wax,” adipocere (from the Latin, adipo for fat and cera for wax) is a grayish-white postmortem (after death) matter caused by fat decomposition, which results from hydrolysis and hydrogenation of the lipids (fatty...