[JRandomFreeper]

The lid tells the tale. Don't consume anything with a compromised seal. Correct processing kills the anaerobic bacteria. Good seals keep out the aerobic (but the green fuzz would clue you to the fungi feasting on aerobic).

Other than that, it's all good. I freak out friends and neighbors by keeping (correctly) cured and smoked meats hanging at room temp in NM. Work the available water, protein and acid content correctly, and it's as safe as houses. Work it wrong, die horribly, sitting on a piece of porcelain.

I've been right so far, thanks USAF for the training.

/johnny

[Citizen Soldier]

I was born ane raised in SE Virginia and when I first married we had a friend who was a pig farmer in eastern N.C. (his wife said the farm smelled like money to her LOL!) who kept a couple of smoke houses to cure and store hams. We always bought them at Christmas for our dinner. My mother back in the 50’s sent a Smithfield ham to my aunt in Cleveland, OH and she threw it away because of the mold. My mother had a fit!