Food-safety guidance on handling, cooking, storage, spoilage signs and when food should be discarded.
A single dry brown layer in a leek can often be removed if the tissue underneath is firm and clean. A center that is wet, slimy, mushy, collapsing, or foul-smelling indicates deterioration; discard the leek when that damage is extensive.
Bean or mung sprouts that have become slimy, mushy, dark, or sour-smelling should be discarded. A fresh vegetable smell is normal, but slippery tissue plus an abnormal odor points to spoilage; appearance alone cannot prove raw sprouts are free of pathogens.
A few tan or light-brown root tips can appear as sprouts lose freshness. Widespread dark brown or black roots that are soft, wet, slimy, or sour-smelling are not normal fresh-sprout quality and are a reason to discard the batch.
Slightly wrinkled or dried-out ginger is often simply dehydrated. Cut into it: if the flesh is still firm, fibrous, and normally aromatic, it is usable; mold, wet softness, slime, or an unusual odor are reasons to discard it.
A blue-gray tint or distinct blue ring inside ginger can be completely natural in some types of ginger. If the flesh is firm, fibrous, and normally aromatic, with no mold or wet decay, the color alone is not a reason to throw it away.
An onion that is watery or slimy inside has more than a freshness issue. A single dry damaged layer may be removed, but multiple soft, leaking, moldy, or foul-smelling layers are a reason to toss the bulb.
A single dry brown ring can be peeled away if the rest of the onion is firm. Black powdery mold, wet or slimy layers, bad odor, or widespread internal damage means the bulb should be discarded.
Wrinkled, dry garlic can still be usable even after losing quality. Wet, mushy, moldy, deeply discolored, or off-smelling cloves should be discarded, especially when several cloves in the bulb are affected.
A dry surface scar can often be trimmed. A wet, sunken, moldy, or leaking soft spot may extend into the flesh; if the tissue underneath is soft, water-soaked, or bad-smelling, discard the squash.
Wilted does not automatically mean spoiled. Limp but intact spinach can still be cooked if it has no slime, mold, wet decay, or off odor; slippery or mushy leaves belong in the trash.
Yellowing is mostly a freshness signal; slime is a spoilage signal. Dry, slightly yellow arugula can be used soon, while slippery, water-soaked, matted, or foul-smelling leaves should be tossed.
Lettuce that is slippery, water-soaked, and breaking apart is spoiled, not merely wilted. Remove a truly isolated bad outer leaf from an intact head, but toss cut lettuce when slime is widespread.