[frogulis]

I've heard of Indian dry mango pickles that are ~20 years old! I guess a product that is dominantly colonised by harmless bacteria is unlikely to be taken over by nasty things, unless it sports food that is tasty to harmful organisms and not friendly ones. Maybe the best defence is the dominant bacterium having eaten all the available sugars so that little further fermentation can occur (and the bottle won't explode)

[NikkiA]

When I was a kid, the pickles we bought would last 2-3 years in some cases - only typically being eaten at special meals like christmas, new years, easter, birthdays.

These days I wouldn't trust a modern shop bought pickle to last more than a couple of months before they start to look like they're growing fungus.

I don't know what changed, but something did, and commercial pickles these days do not stay safe to eat.

[zabzonk]

> I guess a product that is dominantly colonised by harmless bacteria is unlikely to be taken over by nasty thing

much like human skin, gut, etc.