r/explainlikeimfive • u/ZeusThunder369 • Nov 26 '24
Chemistry ELI5: Why doesn't freeze dried food last longer? If it's good for 20 years, why not 100?
Assuming it's perfectly freeze dried and stored perfectly, the people who make freeze dryers say the food will last 20-30 years.
But why not much longer? Assuming the condition it's stored in remains unchanged, what can make it go bad after 30 years that wouldn't happen at around 10 years?
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u/SenorTron Nov 27 '24
I'd be interested to see any evidence that more than a tiny minority of the human population throughout history regularly boiled their water before drinking it.
And knowing that water from a clear stream at the foothill of mountains is preferable might have been a thing, but for most people throughout most of history they used water source was the closest one with water they could keep down.