# If it smells good and tastes good, it's good. Agree? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [January 21, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111 "2021-01-21T16:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/1 "2021-01-21T16:22:43Z")
I’ve got some homemade spaghetti sauce in the fridge. Been sitting in there for a week. I gave it a taste test. Still tastes good. But I’m a little paranoid about making a full meal of it as it does have ground beef and pork in it. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/2 "2021-01-21T16:38:37Z")
If you read the various food safety guides, they will probably tell you to use it or freeze it within 3-4 days. My own personal guideline is 7 days (assuming there are no visual or olfactory indications indicating that it has spoiled) but I am not a food safety expert. I am pretty strict about the 7 days, though. If there is anything left in the refrigerator after 7 days, it gets tossed. In addition, if the item in question is to be frozen, I make a point of doing this within 4 days. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/3 "2021-01-21T16:39:38Z")
As a rule, it’s a super dangerous one. For this particular case, [you’re probably all right](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/leftovers-days-how-long_l_5d8b8fb7e4b0c6d0cef52ac7?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJsxseRBYF7B7Mr6o2prZ0WccxUuVNicNFrQt7YKC0Mf3wLu5IpRfGJ-G1lsGl3Fw6L4QELMyhwSpWl8-yYih1tWDdLo1O78GqZu_kSjqye8PracI1-Elb-4_yygxEJwrR4P0nnVyX3J0RmvBrR7CxUi1D0lFumu0vCLzItKbtVD). > [@](#): > > Cooked foods with a lower pH levels ― think tomato sauce or lemon pie ― typically will last longer, up to one week, as the acidic condition is more inhospitable to bacteria. But then: > [@](#): > > On the other hand, foods with a high moisture content — for example, cooked meat and cooked vegetables — can grow bacteria more quickly, even when stored in the refrigerator. These should be eaten within the three-day guidelines. Ultimately, would I eat it? Sure. But I might feel a little weird about it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/4 "2021-01-21T16:56:24Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Ultimately, would I eat it? Sure. But I might feel a little weird about it. Heh. same here. I once took some leftover stew with me for lunch. When my gf saw the stew was gone, she thought I’d given it to the dogs and was worried about them. When she asked, I told her I’d eaten it for lunch, as it was just a couple of days since we had stew for dinner. Turns out the stew I ate was from _a previous dinner_ and it was unfit for man or beast. I didn’t have any ill effects. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/5 "2021-01-21T16:57:14Z")
Huh. I thought I was pretty lax but seven days is in the bin territory for me. I normally will go four, maybe five days max. Typically, I try to freeze if it ain’t eaten after three. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/6 "2021-01-21T16:57:35Z")
A week or so ago I made a pork roast. A few days later I chopped up what was left and made a pot of chili with it. So, does that reset the clock? Does it help that the chili is probably a higher acid level environment than the pork roast sitting in the fridge by itself? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/7 "2021-01-21T19:08:27Z")
I’d do a week but I’d definitely put it on the stove to simmer for a good half hour minimum. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/8 "2021-01-21T19:10:36Z")
I don’t like wasting food and so look up whether it is safe to eat based on storage conditions and date purchased. However, if in doubt, I dispose of it. Neither ‘saving some money’ nor ‘not wasting food’ is worth a stomach upset. 😨 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/9 "2021-01-22T01:13:53Z")
You might be right. I thought about this a little more, and likelier I’d look in the fridge, see that sauce, think, “Meh, that’s kind of old,” grab something else, and repeat this pattern for like three or four days before I’d think, “Oh yeah, I’m never gonna eat this,” and sadly throw it out. I’m not sure where the “meh” cutoff is for me. It might be a week, it might be five days. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/10 "2021-01-22T02:58:57Z")
I’d eat spaghetti sauce that’s been sitting in the fridge for a week if it still looked and smelled good. (And didn’t taste off.) I wouldn’t even worry about it. As someone says, acidic foods tend to keep well. And trends to mold before anything more dangerous happens, too. Spaghetti sauce is salty, too. Sweet, salty, and sour all help preserve food. But if hunk-o-meat has been there for a week I’d toss it. After four days i might still use it to make soup, at a week is probably not even good for that. My fridge keeps stuff really cold, I think. Everything appears to keep longer than the same stuff did when I was younger, and using a different fridge. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/11 "2021-01-22T07:51:40Z")
I wouldn’t eat it. I don’t like old food. Rarely would I eat anything initially prepared more than 48 hours ago. It’s not so much about food safety at the outset, I just don’t like food to taste old or stale at all. ---
**Author:** ![FriendlyCurmudgeon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendlycurmudgeon/32/5786_2.png) [@FriendlyCurmudgeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendlyCurmudgeon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/12 "2021-01-22T10:21:59Z")
I’ve eaten week old stored in the fridge spaghetti sauce a couple of times. Beef, pork and pancetta. I’m still here. I wouldn’t try two weeks though. Get that gold in the freezer. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/13 "2021-01-22T10:41:50Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > and it was unfit for man or beast. I wonder about that. Seems to me dogs have ironclad stomachs and can handle almost anything. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/14 "2021-01-22T11:41:55Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Seems to me dogs have ironclad stomachs and can handle **almost** anything. (Holding mine) I’d rather eat something that caused GI upset than give it to our dogs. If the dogs end up with vomiting and diarrhea they aren’t going to use the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/15 "2021-01-22T11:58:56Z")
I’ve also eaten stuff like this after a week, though that would be my limit too. I’d also probably scrape off the top layer as that’s gonna be the most spoiled (I’m aware that if there are mycotoxins they will have spread through the sauce; I’m not advocating for scraping visible mold off, just the situation in the OP) ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/16 "2021-01-22T12:27:12Z")
Eating stale bagels for months probably built up your resistance 🙂. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > I’d do a week but I’d definitely put it on the stove to simmer for a good half hour minimum. I guess I’ll be the one to point out, for those unaware, that some bacteria produce toxins that are not destroyed by heating - in other words, by reheating thoroughly, you’ll kill the bacteria, but not get rid of toxins they have already produced. Which can (worst case) kill you. I’m no food hygiene expert, and I don’t follow the rules a lot of the time. Just pointing out that a smell/taste test is not a 100% reliable way to avoid disaster. Conversely, some foods, such as milk, will smell/taste bad long before they develop into something that will actually make you ill by eating it. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Seems to me dogs have ironclad stomachs and can handle almost anything. I agree in general, and again I have no specific experience or expertise, but I recently learned that dogs can make themselves seriously ill by consuming mouldy food, as it can grow a fungus that is harmful to them. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/17 "2021-01-22T12:35:56Z")
No. Bacon, for example, smells good and tastes good, but it is not a healthy food item. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/18 "2021-01-22T12:59:03Z")
The flat answer to the subject question is “no.” Food can have bacteria and toxins without it affecting the smell or taste. By the same token food with an off smell won’t necessarily make you sick. Spoilage bacteria is different than pathogens. “**[The pathogens that do make you sick are odorless](https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Germs/story?id=5560174&page=1)**, colorless and invisible. The consumers sickened in the e-coli contaminated beef recalled from Whole Foods [in 2008] likely could not smell, see or taste the bacteria.” That doesn’t answer the specific case described in the OP, but addresses the more general question. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/19 "2021-01-22T13:00:27Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > No. Bacon, for example, smells good and tastes good, but it is not a healthy food item. I think the question is more about food safety than healthy choices. Bacon won’t kill you all at once. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111/20 "2021-01-22T13:21:24Z")
While it’s true that pathogenic bacteria aren’t always the same as the ones that make food smell bad, the same conditions foster both. It’s similar to how municipalities test water. They don’t look for pathogenic bacteria. They look for common, harmless e coli, because it’s a marker for how much fecal contamination there is. I usually toss old food because it has started to smell stale (which is generally driven by oxidation, not bacteria or other buggies) not because I’m worried about food poisoning. But I’ve also tossed food because its look or smell suggested actual spoillage. And i suspect that if you have a reasonably sensitive nose, that’s an adequate test. Note that it’s NOT an adequate test to detect pathogens on fresh food. The deadly e coli outbreaks tend to be due to fresh produce that was infected at its source, not to food that’s been sitting in the kitchen to long. Vegetables need to be washed well or heated, and the surfaces of meat need to be heated. And items in your kitchen that touch fresh food need to be cleaned. But that’s a separate issue from “it was safe and wholesome when i served it a couple days ago. Is it still okay today?” And while I’m sure the smell test isn’t 100% effective, i bet it’s pretty good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-smells-good-and-tastes-good-its-good-agree/931111.md?page=2)