# Why Does It Smell So Musty In Here? Why Hello, Bag of Potatoes! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 25, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138 "2013-12-25T07:49:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/1 "2013-12-25T07:49:58Z")
What in the world? Since when does a bag of spuds emit this awful smell? They aren’t old or growing eyes…it’s just a normal bag of taters that’s less than a week old! I have never experienced this before, but damn…it made one whole corner of the house smell moldy, musty and whatnot. I assume these are still good to eat? They are residing out on the deck now, with cold temperatures. What gives? Never had this happen before but it’s certainly that bag of potatoes. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/2 "2013-12-25T09:37:36Z")
Look for one particular potato that has gone squishy and gross. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/3 "2013-12-25T13:11:04Z")
Fungus. Pitch the bag. All of it. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/4 "2013-12-25T15:14:13Z")
Do not eat food that smells moldy or musty. You will get sick. I had to throw away my pointsettias because the soil smelled moldy and musty. I surmise the soil was overwatered. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/5 "2013-12-25T22:19:22Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > Look for one particular potato that has gone squishy and gross. That was my first thought, too - down near the bottom, there’s a gross surprise for you. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/6 "2013-12-26T01:37:18Z")
Rotting potatoes smell worse than discovering the rotting corpse of a rodent your cat hid, but I certainly wouldn’t call it a musty smell. Toss 'em is good advice, I think. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/7 "2013-12-26T01:44:30Z")
It’s not necessarily the new bag of spuds…you may have left one behind from the batch before, or before that etc. Good luck on your hunt! But yep, ain’t nothing worse than that smell. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/8 "2013-12-26T17:44:11Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > Do not eat food that smells moldy or musty. You will get sick. > > I had to throw away my pointsettias because the soil smelled moldy and musty. I surmise the soil was overwatered. You eat the soil that your poinsettias were potted in? :dubious: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/9 "2013-12-26T20:42:55Z")
Rotten potato is one of the worst smells ever. I once found what I thought was a dead animal in a closet, buried under a pile of winter stuff. It was so gross I called the kids in and made them help me retrieve it, using all manner of brooms and implements so we didn’t have to touch the nasty smelly corpse. Turned out to be a rotten potato that our dog Molly had stolen and buried for later consumption. (Well, it probably wasn’t rotten when she stole it…) ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/10 "2013-12-28T07:46:01Z")
More than forty years later, I vividly remember a walk in the country and stumbling into a mountain of rotting potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/11 "2013-12-28T20:11:57Z")
We had a funky smell in our pantry a few weeks ago and I couldn’t figure it out… till I got to the bottom of the bag of onions. Yoiks!! All the other onions were fine, but that one was well past its prime. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/12 "2013-12-28T20:54:22Z")
Urk. A friend of mine kept her potatoes in a lower cabinet. Turns out her 15 month old found the potatoes and hid every single one of them. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/13 "2013-12-29T01:59:43Z")
Mice. Parrot poop. Both hard to get rid of. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/14 "2013-12-29T14:12:25Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > Look for one particular potato that has gone squishy and gross. Yep. The Osmond Brothers used to sing a song titled, I believe, “One Bad Potato”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/15 "2013-12-29T20:16:25Z")
I have this problem every time I go to Aldi. The aisle where they have those big bags of potatoes makes me gag! It’s that same musty smell, and their potatoes always smell that way. I wondered if it’s just the bin smelling so bad affecting the potatoes or if they just always have bad potatoes. I only bought them once and threw them away soon after. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/16 "2013-12-29T20:23:04Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Urk. A friend of mine kept her potatoes in a lower cabinet. Turns out her 15 month old found the potatoes and hid every single one of them. This reminds me of what my kids did at my Mom’s house once.They were playing in the basement and found the shelf with all the canned goods and proceeded to peel all the labels off of them.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/17 "2013-12-29T20:28:41Z")
> [@randompattern](#): > > This reminds me of what my kids did at my Mom’s house once.They were playing in the basement and found the shelf with all the canned goods and proceeded to peel all the labels off of them.:smack: The appropriate punishment for that should be that she makes a big pot of everything in the unlabelled cans, and the kids have to eat it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/18 "2013-12-29T21:04:15Z")
Rotten potatoes really are nasty. I rember a few months ago i had to clean up a rotten bag of potatoes and you could smell it from 20 feet away. It was nasty. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/19 "2013-12-29T21:06:47Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > The appropriate punishment for that should be that she makes a big pot of everything in the unlabelled cans, and the kids have to eat it. 😃 Are you serious? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138/20 "2013-12-29T21:34:45Z")
> **[Russian girl, 8, orphaned after her ENTIRE family is wiped out by deadly gas...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2409920/Russian-girl-8--orphaned-ENTIRE-family-wiped-deadly-gas-caused-rotting-potatoes-cellar.html)** > > Grief-stricken Maria Chelysheva lost her mother, father, brother and grandmother after they each entered the cellar where they stored spuds for the winter and were overcome by the toxic fumes, police said. I once had a bag of potatoes go bad on me over night. Bought them in the afternoon, put them in the pantry, woke up to a bag of foul, reeking black/brown gush. It made me think of the hunger in Ireland, and how it must have felt to tuck the potatoes away, safe in their bins, more than enough for a comfortable Winter; and then to wake up to that evil stench. All that work of digging them up by hand for naught as well. Throw them away. [Some of those molds](http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Rotting+potatoes+harbor+harmful+toxins.-a07540715)can be toxic or even lethal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-smell-so-musty-in-here-why-hello-bag-of-potatoes/677138.md?page=2)