Food-safety guidance on handling, cooking, storage, spoilage signs and when food should be discarded.
Dry localized brown spots can be a storage or quality defect rather than rot. Check the tissue around them: wetness, softness, slime, mold, or an off odor change the answer.
Black color alone does not answer the question. A dry shallow spot on an otherwise firm carrot can be trimmed; dark tissue that is wet, soft, slimy, moldy, deep, or foul-smelling should be discarded.
A celery stalk that bends has often lost moisture. If it is dry and sound with no slime, mold, watery rot, or off odor, it is still usable even though the crunch has faded.
Yellowing usually points to overmaturity or storage-related quality loss rather than spoilage by itself. A firm, sound yellow cucumber can still be eaten, though the skin may be tougher and the seeds larger.
Wrinkles and slight flexibility usually mean water loss rather than rot. A sound cucumber can still be used, especially in recipes where crunch matters less; slime, mold, water-soaked breakdown, or bad odor mean discard.
A bendy carrot is usually dehydrated, not automatically bad. If it is dry, clean, and normal-smelling with no slimy or water-soaked rot, it is still usable, especially in cooked dishes.
A dry, even white haze on peeled carrots is usually white blush caused by surface dehydration, not mold. Rinse or rehydrate them; fuzzy growth, slime, wet rot, or off odors are different warning signs.
Firm white or green areas inside a tomato usually reflect uneven ripening or a physiological disorder rather than rot. If the fruit has no mold, off odor, slime, or wet collapsing tissue, it is generally usable.
A very soft tomato can simply be overripe. If the skin is intact, the smell is normal, and there is no mold, slime, leaking, or water-soaked decay, use it that day. Fermentation or collapsing tissue means discard it.
A faint bitter edge can occur in stressed or overmature cucumbers, especially near the stem end. If the flavor is strikingly, unpleasantly bitter throughout, stop eating it and discard the cucumber.
A wrinkled bell pepper is usually dehydrated, not automatically spoiled. If the flesh is still firm and there is no mold, slime, wet rot, leaking liquid, or off odor, it can usually be cooked and eaten.
A sunken spot is not automatically rot. A small dry, firm defect can often be trimmed; wet, translucent, slimy, mushy, moldy, or spreading tissue is a reason to discard the pepper.