We all have private pantry rituals that we swear by to keep our snacks nice and fresh. Some people say chocolate in the freezer is superior while others keep their cereal in the fridge. But is there a concrete reason for keeping some food items refrigerated while some should just stay put in the pantry?

Even though we may not want to hear it, the answer is no, not really. Most of the time, it all boils down to our personal preferences.

When it comes to the age-old question of whether you should keep your condiments such as jam, peanut butter and of course, tomato sauce refrigerated or not, a doctor claims that it's not necessary.

Dr Zac Turner of Concierge Doctors explained that tomato sauce and other condiments like BBQ sauce and mustard do not require refrigeration due to their high acidity and processing.

'Even after it’s been opened, it remains microbially stable for quite some time, which means little bacteria grows in it,' he said.

Dr Zac Turner said that condiments like tomato sauce don't need to be kept in the fridge. Credit: iStock.​

Since peanut butter and vegemite both lack significant amounts of water, bacterial growth is more difficult. Both spreads are items that can be kept on the shelf before and after being opened since they are shelf-stable.

When food is infected with bacteria while being handled, cooked, or stored, food poisoning occurs. Food that is tainted occasionally even has a normal appearance, flavour, and aroma. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Norovirus or Rotavirus, and E. coli are just a few of these unpleasant bacteria.

Food storage is especially risky because, if done improperly, bacteria can grow to deadly levels. The temperature range between 5 and 60 degrees Celsius is where food-poisoning bacteria multiply and develop the quickest.

He advised: 'Ensuring your refrigerator stays below this is important to keep potential pathogen growth reduced.'

The doctor also suggested reading the label of the item and checking for its storage requirements to ensure that they don't get contaminated with bacteria.

'Can I just say that you can find out all this information by reading the labels of your food; it is here that you will find storage directions,' Dr Turner remarked.

'It’s always best to follow what your food label says.'

And of course, there is food that you should keep a closer look at because they are at high risk of getting contaminated.

Meat, both raw and cooked, dairy products, eggs, shellfish, and ready-to-eat foods are among these high-risk items.

He added: 'If your gut is telling you to not eat it, you should listen to it!'

Food poisoning is a serious problem that can lead to hospitalisation or even death.

Each year, there are over 4.1 million cases of food poisoning in Australia. Of those, 31,920 have been hospitalised and 86 people died.

Stay safe out there, folks!

 

[Petra]

I AM WONDER WOMAN
I always WONDER how I got to live so far! for 61 years ! I never had food poisoning. And if I had it when I was a toddler, my parents would have always talked about it. I grew up without being vaccinated for Influenza, I went to school till the end of Year 12, with 100's of children around me every day. Our sandwiches Mum packed for school lunches were wrapped in lunch-wrap-paper (a waxy baking paper) with Vegemite and sometimes with cheese OR jam OR PeanutButter on them. I had them in my school bag and I ate them at 11am ... Sooo, the sandwiches were eaten 5 hours after Mum made them and they were in a cooler lunch bag or in the school's fridge .. omg! and I never got food poisoning. Recalled products were never heard off !

 

[Stanier123]

We all have private pantry rituals that we swear by to keep our snacks nice and fresh. Some people say chocolate in the freezer is superior while others keep their cereal in the fridge. But is there a concrete reason for keeping some food items refrigerated while some should just stay put in the pantry?

Even though we may not want to hear it, the answer is no, not really. Most of the time, it all boils down to our personal preferences.

When it comes to the age-old question of whether you should keep your condiments such as jam, peanut butter and of course, tomato sauce refrigerated or not, a doctor claims that it's not necessary.

Dr Zac Turner of Concierge Doctors explained that tomato sauce and other condiments like BBQ sauce and mustard do not require refrigeration due to their high acidity and processing.

'Even after it’s been opened, it remains microbially stable for quite some time, which means little bacteria grows in it,' he said.

Dr Zac Turner said that condiments like tomato sauce don't need to be kept in the fridge. Credit: iStock.​

Since peanut butter and vegemite both lack significant amounts of water, bacterial growth is more difficult. Both spreads are items that can be kept on the shelf before and after being opened since they are shelf-stable.

When food is infected with bacteria while being handled, cooked, or stored, food poisoning occurs. Food that is tainted occasionally even has a normal appearance, flavour, and aroma. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Norovirus or Rotavirus, and E. coli are just a few of these unpleasant bacteria.

Food storage is especially risky because, if done improperly, bacteria can grow to deadly levels. The temperature range between 5 and 60 degrees Celsius is where food-poisoning bacteria multiply and develop the quickest.

He advised: 'Ensuring your refrigerator stays below this is important to keep potential pathogen growth reduced.'

The doctor also suggested reading the label of the item and checking for its storage requirements to ensure that they don't get contaminated with bacteria.

'Can I just say that you can find out all this information by reading the labels of your food; it is here that you will find storage directions,' Dr Turner remarked.

'It’s always best to follow what your food label says.'

And of course, there is food that you should keep a closer look at because they are at high risk of getting contaminated.

Meat, both raw and cooked, dairy products, eggs, shellfish, and ready-to-eat foods are among these high-risk items.

He added: 'If your gut is telling you to not eat it, you should listen to it!'

Food poisoning is a serious problem that can lead to hospitalisation or even death.

Each year, there are over 4.1 million cases of food poisoning in Australia. Of those, 31,920 have been hospitalised and 86 people died.

Stay safe out there, folks!

All will allow moulds to grow on the surface even in the fridge. Tomato sauce has 27% sugar, so make your own. Look out for the low sugar, low salt varieties.

There has been the alert about peanut butter NOT made from. Australian sourced peanuts already.

Chocolate doesn’t normally last long enough to be in the fridge! Check the sugar content of your chocolate. Some should be labelled sugar with chocolate flavouring.

 

[Gaena]

Some Australians seem to have an obsession with placing foods in the fridge, condiments ectc, basic chemistry will tell you that if the food contains both vinegar and sugar, like anything containing vinegar the food is preserved with those ingredients in it, so storage in the pantry is fine; Vegemite and cereals WHY?? Vegemites high salt content will keep it safe in the pantry for years and a storage container with a well fitting sealed lid will keep your cereal fresh for however long it is stored before being eaten. I swear common sense is just not as common as we think, however please read the label; I purchased a well known brand of Jams and marmalades all with no added sugar and stored them in the pantry as usual, I finally read the label reccommending storage in the fridge when a few jars of it sprouted enough mould to create a good dose of Penecilin, my bad, they tasted great prior to the mould growth though! Another product stored by some people in their fridge that continues to Baffle me is Honey, have they never heard that Honey was used by the ancient Egyptians to preserve their Royal families bodies after death and that jars of Honey have been found in Burial Crypts that are still safe to eat thousands of years later, I guess that information is not contained on Tic Toc so therefore is not true or relevant. Rant over.

 

[Jen003]

This article is a bit silly. The doctor ends up saying to follow the advice on the label. All the labels say to refrigerate after opening.

 

[Kgee]

I would like to know what has changed with jams and sauces. My Mum never kept these items in the fridge and they never went mouldy and we never got sick eating them. Now most items say refrigerate after opening. I've stopped putting jam in the fridge because it goes horrible and I don't want cold jam on my warm toast. Oh and it hasn't gone mouldy since doing this.

 

[chezna]

I would like to know what has changed with jams and sauces. My Mum never kept these items in the fridge and they never went mouldy and we never got sick eating them. Now most items say refrigerate after opening. I've stopped putting jam in the fridge because it goes horrible and I don't want cold jam on my warm toast. Oh and it hasn't gone mouldy since doing this.

We never had fridges when we were younger on a farm.. we had safes that had like a mesh front to the door so the air could circulate.. everything went in the safe!

 

[leoniebarr]

I AM WONDER WOMAN
I always WONDER how I got to live so far! for 61 years ! I never had food poisoning. And if I had it when I was a toddler, my parents would have always talked about it. I grew up without being vaccinated for Influenza, I went to school till the end of Year 12, with 100's of children around me every day. Our sandwiches Mum packed for school lunches were wrapped in lunch-wrap-paper (a waxy baking paper) with Vegemite and sometimes with cheese OR jam OR PeanutButter on them. I had them in my school bag and I ate them at 11am ... Sooo, the sandwiches were eaten 5 hours after Mum made them and they were in a cooler lunch bag or in the school's fridge .. omg! and I never got food poisoning. Recalled products were never heard off !

Are you sure that you aren’t my sister Petra? …..because we were certainly raised the same way!
I am amazed though there weren’t lots of very sick children after being forced to drink milk that had been sitting in metal crates under a tree on the middle of summer! The nuns used to watch us at recess to make sure we drank the lot! Yuk I still can’t drink milk to this day and I am now 71.

 

[Doctortrish]

I have a jar of Vegemite that has been in my pantry for years and it is perfectly fine, The use by date? 2006!

 

[Lee-Bee]

I have a jar of Vegemite that has been in my pantry for years and it is perfectly fine, The use by date? 2006!

Vegemite as never reached it’s best by date in my house

 

[Cribbagemaster]

ALSO, please be aware of the following:
Do not rely solely on the use by or best before date printed on the jar, or can, etc. Read the fine print, as many will tell you to use the contents within a certain number of days after being opened. I was not aware of this until a couple of years ago, but I'm still here to write about it. Go check your labels now.

 

[Jennylolo]

Are you sure that you aren’t my sister Petra? …..because we were certainly raised the same way!
I am amazed though there weren’t lots of very sick children after being forced to drink milk that had been sitting in metal crates under a tree on the middle of summer! The nuns used to watch us at recess to make sure we drank the lot! Yuk I still can’t drink milk to this day and I am now 71.

oh yeah, school milk, left in the heat, we drank it and weren't ill.

 

[Stanier123]

We never had fridges when we were younger on a farm.. we had safes that had like a mesh front to the door so the air could circulate.. everything went in the safe!

We had the same growing up inLondon after WWII.

 

[Stanier123]

oh yeah, school milk, left in the heat, we drank it and weren't ill.

Funny I worked in a food research facility where milk was made to go off. That’s how you get yogurt, quark, cheese… inoculate milk with bacteria and you get good healthy products.
Beware home yogurt makers. If you inoculate with your own yogurt you can get very sick. In every inoculation certain slow growing bacteria develop. By the 5th generation the pathogens can make you sick, even kill you. They withdrew home kits from the market in the UK because of this issue.

 

[maggiej]

We lived in a small country town some years ago and did not have refrigeration then our first refrigerator was a kerosene one.. shows how old I am and I do not recall any of my family having food poisoning

 

[Ezzy]

Are you sure that you aren’t my sister Petra? …..because we were certainly raised the same way!
I am amazed though there weren’t lots of very sick children after being forced to drink milk that had been sitting in metal crates under a tree on the middle of summer! The nuns used to watch us at recess to make sure we drank the lot! Yuk I still can’t drink milk to this day and I am now 71.

You are lucky this was under a tree. Ours was in the sun, uncovered. We consumed this in the classroom & regularly had a straw bought from the corner shop which had chocolate or strawberry flavoured stick in it which flavoured the milk when jiggled up & down in the milk.

 

[Suzanne rose]

oh yeah, school milk, left in the heat, we drank it and weren't ill.

I would never drink that warm bottled milk

 

[Suzanne rose]

My husband reads you keep eggs out of the fridge...OK in the pantry they go....then months later he reads they need to be kept in the fridge.....then the pantry ...we are now up to keeping them in the fridge.

To be honest I grew up with them being in the fridge.
I find they seem fresher kept in the fridge.

In the supermarkets they are kept on the shelf

Most Fridges come with egg containers so it's saying store in the fridge.

Have I confused you ? Welcome to the club

Oh and the tomato sauce I keep in the fridge once it's opened other sauces like Worstershire ect I keep in the pantry

 

[Ezzy]

My husband reads you keep eggs out of the fridge...OK in the pantry they go....then months later he reads they need to be kept in the fridge.....then the pantry ...we are now up to keeping them in the fridge.

To be honest I grew up with them being in the fridge.
I find they seem fresher kept in the fridge.

In the supermarkets they are kept on the shelf

Most Fridges come with egg containers so it's saying store in the fridge.

Have I confused you ? Welcome to the club

Oh and the tomato sauce I keep in the fridge once it's opened other sauces like Worstershire ect I keep in the pantry

Very confusing indeed. We have always kept tomato sauce in the fridge too. The egg holder on the fridge door is possibly a good place because the area is not as cold as the bottom of the fridge. ( cold air goes down, as l am sure you are aware ).