Will Food GO BAD in a Vacuum Chamber? 

They wont stay vacuum sealed because some of them will off gas, then rot in their own gases. This is why they freeze dry and dehydrate foods for long term storage. Removing most or all of the moisture is key. Then vacuum seal it with some o2/moisture absorbing packs and some stuff can last 20-30 years.

Isn't this the purpose of vacuum sealing?

From now on I'll vacuum seal my memes so they don't get stale. Thanks!

I don't think you needed to drill the lids - you could just have left them half unscrewed - same as for when they are used for canning - gas can escape by lifting the lid a little, but when the pressure outside the jar is greater, the lid is pressed into place and seals tight

Note: As someone with over 15 years lyophilization experience, the main issue is that you still have residual moisture and oxygen in the foods themselves. You would need to actually freeze-dry the foods to prevent spoilage. While making freeze-dried pharmaceuticals, you generally have to reduce the moisture content of the freeze dried solids to under 0.1% to prevent mold and bacteria from growing.

next video: will ice cream melt if you keep it in your freezer

yo you just touched moldy bread then ate chips with the same hand, be careful lol

You need to remove the moisture because it fills the vacuum and returns it to atmospheric pressure.Vacuum storage only works with dry foods.

I’m a microbiologist in training and I think I know why the vacuum was disturbed. The answer is not likely that the seals broke or air got in, but more so the microbes and fungus living on the food created their own atmosphere. Many microbial decomposers are anaerobic which means they don’t need oxygen and occasionally don’t even need air to survive. Where you left the unsterile food exposed to unsterile objects, decomposers contaminated the samples and went to work regardless of air pressure. The lack of pressure may have disturbed some of them, but by the looks of it, mostly cells with cell walls survived because the cell wall helps to regulate the cells size and shape, resisting the vacuum chamber. As they broke down the saccharides (sugars) in the food, they created oxygen and carbon dioxide. Also, there could be traces of other gases depending such as nitrogen depending on what parts the microbes and fungus decomposed and what types of metabolisms they use to respire. Water could also be created through respiration which is why the bread may have been even more moist than it was to begin with. To sum it up, organisms that don’t require air or an atmosphere contaminated your samples and created their own atmosphere within a vacuum chamber.

You are using canning jars, they are designed to use negative pressure to seal themselves. Take the lids and set them in near boiling water for about 10 minutes to soften the sealing compound, then when you go to vacuum seal the lids just put the rings to finger tight, once you remove them from the chamber take the rings off and you will know if you have a proper seal, it's very much like using heat or pressure canning. I would suggest that you redo this experiment properly rather than using a potential weak point such as that rubber taped over the top.

You’re basically just isolating anaerobic bacteria to grow

You only removed one source of decay, air. There is still tons of moisture in the foods you sealed into a container, which is a perfect place for bacteria to grow

did he pick up the chips with the same gloves after touching the molded bread?

So basically, as NASA and the military figured out DECADES ago, if you want to vacuum seal food you need to dehydrate it first.

a lot bacteria also can only exclusively grow with the absence of oxygen btw... they're called Obligate anaerobe germs and generally are more pathogenic than those who can metabolize oxygen

The jars shouldn't need any modifications if you just leave the ring a little loose. The lid will allow the air to burp out, but will seal the vacuum in the jar as soon as pressure is reintroduced.

At 7:26 "It's possible we haven't kept a perfect vacuum on all of these". You're correct in that statement. The drilling/rubber seal idea was unnecessary. It would have been easier and simpler if you just placed the mason jar lids on the jars and put them in the vacuum chamber (without the bands). The pressure inside the mason jar would have lifted the lid enough to allow the vacuum to draw the air out. When the vacuum pump was turned off, the rubber on the lid would have sealed the jar. Then you could place the screw bands on. Check out a FoodSaver wide mouth jar sealer, which works on the same principle. TLDR: The mason jar lid works on the same exact principle as the rubber + electrical tape, and works better.

You have demonstrated that when you pull out most of the air but leave moisture and nutrients behind, microbes that don't need oxygen can grow. This includes yeasts and molds, some of which are quite toxic. This also includes anaerobic bacteria. A common anaerobic bacteria produces botulism. Vacuum or dry nitrogen are great for storing dry things. Moist things, not so much.

As a microbiologist, the lack of sterilization in this video is offensive to me

The canning jars would have worked just fine without the hole. Their lids already have a rubber ring around them.

You do realize you didn’t have to do all that stuff with the rubber... Those jars are designed to vacuum seal if you just leave the ring loose, and they wouldn’t have leaked. That’s the whole purpose of canning jars (although it’s usually done with steam and not a vacuum pump).

The irony of modifying a canning jar with a rubber valve so it will hold a vacuum.... Literally what canning jars are made for...

You didn’t sterilize any equipment? Isn’t that severely important regarding microbes and mold when this type of experiment is trying to keep this food edible?

5:55 Exactly what would happen to an astronaut in space without their gear.

The vacuum seals probably equalized within the first couple days. And that's a VERY conservative guess. Basically all you did was test sealed vs open food.

Pokes the mouldy bread then eats crisps with presumably the same gloves?

For a true comparison there should have been a third group stored in jars, with the lids on but with no vacuum.

I would really like to see a part two of this where you test what is required to preserve food, specifically sliced/diced fruits, as long as it's whole unsliced counterpart left on the counter. Maybe whole apple on the counter vs whole apple in the fridge vs sliced apple in zip lock in fridge vs in vaccum in fridge vs in sterilized vaccum in fridge?

Yes it will, unless you sterilize the container and the food.... before you vacuum pack it.

Will food go bad in a vacuum chamber? *Yes* Saved you a watch

TKOR: makes video Me: turns into science project*

6:42 "why was it pressurized!" xD

Um you know those lids are designed to let air out and not in so the rubber stopper is redundant.

Me applying for job: What makes you a better candidate then others? Me: Marshmallows shrink when- Interviewer: Get out.

R.I.P Garrett Thompson

You know those jars are made to make a vacuum by boiling them and then cooling them.

You won't eat the moldy bread but continued on with the same pair of gloves? Do you even know how mold works? If you did not change those gloves after proceeding after the bread, you literally ate mold off your gloves.

The moisture fills the vacuum and returns it to atmospheric pressure. It would only help things that are completely dry.

Roses are red. Violets are blue. The answer to the question is at 12:02.

Am I the only one not caring and still wanting to eat those marshmallows even after they crumpled?

Here's a cool science trick for you guys. After making some coffee, pour it in a room temperature porcelain mug. Right after start tapping the rim with a metal spoon. You'll notice the pitch of the tap will get higher and higher, until the temperatures match. I think it's because the porcelain is expanding. I found this out myself one morning

So why did you bother to drill holes into the mason jar lids? The lid already can hold a seal if you do it the correct way.

Lol me and my friend were watching this and for the marshmallow part he asked me, "is that how raisins are made?".

What would happen if you put pop rocks in liquid nitrogen? Would they freeze too quickly or would they still pop?

Can you vacuum seal someone’s soul? Asking for a friend.

The marshmallow part was so satisfying and was satisfied 😊😋

Omg I was so amazed at how the marshmallows shriveled up 😂💯🙌🏽 dope video you have a new fan lol 😂

you only forgot to sanitize the jars to prevent the molding but other than that great video it was awesome

U should try putting wet sand in a vacuum chamber then see if it separates the water and the sand

You should have had marshmallows to test the seal during the experiment

R.I.P for headphone users at full volume at 3:43

Alot of fungi are chemosynthetic, meaning they need no air. Bacteria are mostly anaerobic, so while a vaccuum prevents staleness will normally not fully prevent food from becoming toxic.

Poor experimental design guys, if the variable you are testing is vacuum, the control should be in a sealed jar as well, just without vacuum. Most of what you are testing is "does keeping stuff in sealed jars keep it from going bad"

Hello everyone and this is your daily dose of Internet and today we'll be looking at this....

vacuum dehydrating IS a way to store dry goods. If you freeze the food first, you can freeze dry it with this setup.

Next time you should put a few Marshmallows in each Jar to see if it keeps it's vacuum!

9:20 taste like the mold that still on my glove 😂

You guys know they make an adapter that fits over a standard mason jar lid and another size that fits wide mouth lids, they connect to a vacuum sealer by a hose. with the right hose and a standard lid you can do the jars without worrying about the holes or something not working as well. Also warming up the lid a bit by heating in boiling water softens the ring seal on the lids for a better seal.

Now try it with everything cleaned and sanitized including your hands.

There are several problems that I see with this experiment. The jars weren't sterilized, the vacuum was unstable, and the food seemed to be cut with the same knife. That allowed for things to cross contaminate or spread from the outside to the inside of that jars. Very cool idea though! It would be cool to see this done again with containers designed for vacuum and cleaner setup.

Did he eat with same gloves after touching rotten bread?

I have always wondered this! Only I wondered if flesh would rot...

could try silica packets to keep excess moisture, and maybe mold from forming, in bread/apples

Can u dry out a wet phone with a vacuum chamber?

3:57 me whenever i have to do any social interactions

well bread will go bad very quickly if left out. Bread lasts alot longer in the fridge and can last a year+ in Freezer. Should never leave bread out in open.

This has been on my watch later for 5 years

Before the video even started, I said to myself "but what about anaerobic bacteria?"

You don't understand how canning jars work. You don't need to drill a hole in the lid! The lid is two pieces for a reason. Don't tighten the outer ring, the vacuum pulls the lid open and draws the gasses out (and water), then the atmospheric pressure presses the lid down sealing the vacuum inside.

Pump-n-seal sells adhesive rubber tabs for vacuum sealing mason jars like this. I can vouch for them- I had a dry item sealed for around 10 years and it held fine.

Next experiment: pressure a jar then yeet it an see if it explodes

Can you try building a railgun?

Make a jar of marshmallows under vacuum, give it to child, watch their sole die a little as they open the jar to see the large marshmallows shrivel up and disappear.

Me presenting my group work at my failed biology class be like

The video: "you can actually hear that as it crumbles" Also the video: [annoying background music]

To be clear the reason you got mold was improper sterilization..

It would have been nice to see a time lapse of these.

actualy thats how you make croutons my dude, bake bread with seasoning and let it sit till its hard as rock

Can you do this as the next video:put dry ice vs. regular ice in a vacuum chamber and put those in a fridge and freezer for 2 weeks? I would really like to see this

Nice experiment, thanks! You should do this test again (especially with different fruits) but put dry ice in the bottom of the jar before you vacuum out the air! Then see how carbonated it will be and /or how long the food will last.

If you did this with a McChicken, it would last for eternity.

Do you know if foods with a higher moisture content like the apples and the bread will grow mold if you put something in the jar to absorb the excess moisture?

This is a perfect example of how/why a broad understanding of physics is very helpful in life.

........mold is absolutely amazing. There are mold spores on basically everything...all the time. They just need the right conditions to grow. And apparently they don't even need air (or at least extremely little air) to grow. I honestly thought the bread in the vacuum would not grow mold due to the lack of an atmosphere. Weird.

though it isn't very likely, there is a risk of botulism. please look up before doing these experiments. potentially extremely dangerous: paralysis, death. someone please let these guys know not to eat this stuff

I always wondered about this. Thanks for the video.

So a bit of a tip for when your filming with fruit and you cut it open especially with apples, to prevent them from oxidising aka going brown, you should coat them in lemon juice as it's great for when your doing photography and your working with cut fruits.

Keeping something vacuum is actually very challenging, especially over such a long period. What you should do is to vacuum these jars EVERY DAY. Otherwise they might be little oxygen for the first few hours/days, but after that they will be no difference between the vacuum jars and non-vacuum jars. What's worse, unlike human beings, bacteria requires very little oxygen, so those vacuum jars prevented food from drying out (because water vapor can't go out), yet it has enough oxygen for bacteria, so it's oxygen + moisture, which is even worse then just oxygen but dry food. That's why you get worse results from apple and bread.

He just made the marshmellows from LuckyCharms !!

Take the stuff from around babybels, mold it, melt it, burn it, freeze it

Did you guys pull a -30 hg vacuum on the mason jars??? I'm curious if they can hold that negative pressure or if it would implode.

I hope you changed those gloves after you touched the moldy bread, because otherwise you just transferred all the mold spored on your hand onto the food you just ate.

cast chocolate in your diamond play button mold

I noticed the bread jar, that one that was vacuumed and had more mold on it, I noticed the jar itself was even clouded with the dark blue color of the mold... meaning the mold literally spread it's spores into what little atmosphere was in the jar... since obviously, it wasn't a PERFECT vacuum… and that... is both disgusting and fascinating at the same time

Many foods go bad because of solar exposure, like beer, which of course wouldn't be impacted by storing it in a clear glass container

You were supposed to sterlize the jars

these were not perfectly vacuumed.

I wish you could have tested the bacteria and the fungus because it seems like the vacuum chamber prevented aerobic microorganisms from reproducing. I wonder how much the temperature affected this experiment, like putting something in the freezer would have less effect on the vacuum because there are less particles but the exchange of energy (as heat) through the glass seems significant. I'm just wondering if a low temperature is present so there is less movement of particles and there are no air particles, if that would be similar. Seems like some of the microorganisms on the items were not affected by the vacuum, but a higher temperature would slow down their replication and metabolism. I also wonder if the process of sucking the air out had more effect on the experiment because of the how the air and moisture in the items were removed. Either way this was still amazing, love this so much. Just random thoughts and questions...

do you think if you would have left the vacuun pump on the chamber longer (to allow more moisture to boil and be removed) would have changed the results?

should have kept the lid ON for non-pressurized (control) to avoid variables lol not the other way around. biscuits may not even go stale if the lid was on regardless of pressure.