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4 Signs Your Leftovers Should Be Thrown in the Trash Immediately, According to Science

Don’t risk a day and night on the toilet, just toss it.

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Most people have stood in front of the fridge holding something questionable, doing a quick mental cost-benefit analysis between food poisoning and not wanting to waste $4 worth of leftovers. Science has some guidance to help you with that.

Researchers writing in The Conversation have laid out a practical framework for figuring out what’s salvageable and what needs to go. The short version is that not everything sad-looking in your kitchen is actually dangerous—but some of it absolutely is, and there are four specific signs that mean you should stop deliberating and just throw it out.

The 4 signs food has gone bad:

Strong or sour smells

Any one of those is a hard stop. Food sporting those characteristics can cause food poisoning, and no amount of creative cooking fixes that. Everything else—wrinkles, browning, dryness, general sadness—is usually just age, not danger, and........

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