(light music)
(classical music)
(chalkboard writing)
- Hi, I'm Jonathan from Forward Thinking
and this is Brain Stuff.
So you know when you
reach inside your fridge
and that leftovers you have
in there have turned green
and they're covered with
white wisps of mold?
Or when you look at the tomatoes
and they look like a deflated balloon
and they've got spores
growing out of the top?
Obviously we're all disgusted
by this kind of imagery.
If we're not, we should be.
Well, luckily, we have refrigerators
which slow the growth
of bacteria on our food.
Freezers will do you one better
by stopping bacteria completely
by freezing them solid
but we can't freeze everything.
Some foods like lettuce, milk, or eggs
are less than appetizing
after you freeze them
so there's gotta be some
middle ground between
freezing your food rock solid
and leaving it out to rot.
So what is the best temperature
to set the inside of your fridge at?
Well before I answer that, let's
understand spoilage better.
Now basically, microscopic organisms
are constantly feasting on
our unattended food items
and spoilage bacteria
are fast and inevitable.
They're constantly consuming
tiny portions of our food
and then spreading their
waste all over it, yum.
Well that's what makes
rotten food smell foul
and appear to be spoiled.
And bacteria multiply, sometimes rapidly.
So as long as nutrition
and water are present,
bacteria will be making babies y'all.
While there are many
methods to detect bacteria,
most of them take several hours
unless you happen to have
an infrared light handy
to trace their biochemical footprints.
Even if you can find them,
not all bacteria are necessarily bad.
For instance, a certain degree of bacteria
are necessary to prevent illness.
Others are used by food manufacturers
to enhance the taste or
texture of their products.
Bacteria in beer can control
its calorie content, for example.
Or the holes in Swiss cheese.
Those occur when bacteria
use lactic acid to produce
bubbles of carbon dioxide
gas that leave holes behind.
And of course, there's yogurt!
That stuff has bacteria aplenty
containing probiotic enzymes
that produce vitamins, enhance digestion,
and aid our absorption of nutrients.
But for the most part,
visible bacteria and mold
is a sign that food is
not suitable to eat.
And some can even be lethal,
like Salmonella or E. coli and Listeria.
So what's our best solution?
Using our cold refrigerators
to slow bacteria's growth
without also freezing our food.
Now the US Food and Drug Administration
recommends you keep your refrigerator
at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit which is
four degrees Celsius.
Anything higher and the
food will spoil too quickly.
For the food that you could freeze,
you'll want the temperature to be about
zero degrees Fahrenheit or
minus 18 degrees Celsius.
And another tip, don't jam
your fridge full of stuff!
You know, like leftovers,
jams, Punky Brewster.
This prevents the proper
air circulation needed
and could actually hasten spoilage.
Now in the freezer, however,
feel free to fill 'er up.
Shove Punky in there, it's fine!
A full freezer actually
cools more efficiently.
Now that you know the ideal
temperature for your fridge,
what's the worst case of
spoiled food you've come across?
Let us know what kind of
intelligent life forms have sprung
fully-formed inside your
refrigerator in the comments below.
And remember, if you enjoyed this episode,
to hit that little Like
button just for me.
Share it with all of your
friends, subscribe to our channel,
and we'll see you again really soon.
(light music)
