I keep dried sausages and meats for up to a year, regularly. The longer you keep them, the dryer they need to be. Keeping them cool also helps. I have a 54F special fridge for making/aging sausage/cheese/beer.
The other thing is local molds. If it gets fuzzy, cheese or meat, it can be wiped down with vinegar.
The bottom line is that you are trying to keep bad bacteria from growing. Bacteria need water, most of the nasties need oxygen, though some are anerobic, acidity and temperature also affect them. And finally, so does time.
The trick is to bind up the food so the nasties can't get to it and reproduce.
/johnny
” The other thing is local molds. If it gets fuzzy, cheese or meat, it can be wiped down with vinegar. “
My late father - son of German Wisconsin farmers - taught us that cheese and sausage weren’t fully ready until they had a good layer of mold...
Not sure how that applies to modern store-bought products, though... ;)