# Is a week old salami and cheese still good to eat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169 "2005-06-14T01:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/1 "2005-06-14T01:35:59Z")
About a week and a half ago I bought a pork salami and two kinds of cheese. After eating some of it, I sealed them in ziplock bags and put them in the refrigerator. Will they still be safe to eat now? ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/2 "2005-06-14T01:39:23Z")
Um, well… I couldn’t say if the _would_ be safe to eat definitively, but I’ve been known to leave salami/mettwurst in the fridge for anywhere up to three weeks, and still eat it. And as long as the cheese isn’t growing mould, I’ll still eat that, too. ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/3 "2005-06-14T01:41:42Z")
Salami’s got enough salt in it that it will certainly be ok to eat weeks, even months after opening. Cheese will keep for a long time too. You’ll be fine. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/4 "2005-06-14T02:05:07Z")
Just cut any mold off first. ---
**Author:** ![Baggins111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@Baggins111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggins111)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/5 "2005-06-14T02:17:36Z")
Are you in college? If so, it’s a definite yes. From my experience, the salami should still be good for a long time. The cheese, as long as it hasn’t hardened, should be good too. I grew up in Wisconsin. I should know these things. Please eat some and let us know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/6 "2005-06-14T02:51:07Z")
Eegad, a walking “Homer Simpson” homage! One vote for “NO!”. …especially if your sandwich has serrated bite marks in it, or did you neatly cut it before or after eating some? Because if any part of that sandwich touched your mouth, or was even heavily breathed on, I wouldn’t risk it. Besides, wouldn’t the bread by stale, the cheese, a touch desiccated and hardened, and ditto for the salami? Yecch. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/7 "2005-06-14T04:53:05Z")
I ate it and it was GOOD!!! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/8 "2005-06-14T05:09:13Z")
Hard salami is good for a long time. Cheese is bad when it gets moldy or cracks and gets hard. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/9 "2005-06-14T05:16:47Z")
Isn’t long-term storage pretty much the reason we HAVE such foods as cheese and/or salami? …I’m just sayin’ is all… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/10 "2005-06-14T07:35:53Z")
> [@Phnord Prephect](#): > > Isn’t long-term storage pretty much the reason we HAVE such foods as cheese and/or salami? It certainly is! Some modern salami-analogues, however, are not as dry or salty as their historical ancestors (precisely because they are designed to be refrigerated), so care must be exercised; still, if it’s ordinary salami we’re talking about, and it’s been in a sealed bag in the fridge, it would be pretty unusual for it to spoil in a short time. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/11 "2005-06-14T08:32:04Z")
I would love to now how effective ziplock bags are in a “scientific” sense. I have found things that I sealed in a ziplock bag that are long past their use by dates and although I throw them out they often seem fine on inspection. If they had been left in their original packaging there would be no doubt about their fitness for ingestion. Any takers? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/12 "2005-06-14T08:49:23Z")
I don’t think there’s anything particularly magical about them; they have an airtight seal, which means that additional sources of spoilage (such as mould spores etc) are excluded, although there will be plenty of those present in any case. They also provide a fairly stable environment in terms of humidity and they are typically made of slightly thicker plastic than sandwich bags, so there’s less contact between the plastic and the food item (where ‘sweating’ can be a problem). Overall, I don’t suppose it makes an enormous heap of difference though. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/13 "2005-06-14T14:16:41Z")
Ziplock bags can sometimes be the worst way to store things, because they keep moisture in and the food will get nasty faster. Mostly a concern with hard cheese, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/14 "2005-06-14T15:16:58Z")
Cheese should be wrapped in wax paper that allows it to breathe. Wrapping in plastic deterioates cheese signficantly faster. But cheese and salami have been historically, products made in the late fall to provide people with meat and dairy all through the winter. It should last 3 - 6 months without a problem at room temperature. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-week-old-salami-and-cheese-still-good-to-eat/308169/15 "2005-06-14T17:22:41Z")
If it looks OK, and smells OK, but it feels slippery, dump it. It probably has a nice slime mold growing on it, and your insides will get upset.