Woman says she’s accidentally been poisoning herself with this product from Trader Joe’s

Photo byBlueee77/Shutterstock @yourmom2805/Tiktok Wileydoc/Shutterstock

Certain pantry staples actually belong in the fridge. Here’s a surprising one you might not have known about.

We get it—fridge space is valuable. You don’t want to take up that valuable real estate with something that seems to be doing just fine in the pantry. Your parents stored this stuff in the pantry; why can’t you?

It turns out, there are several things that can go bad quicker or lose their taste when left out at room temperature.

The unknown culprit

Unfortunately, this TikToker had to find out the hard way, now she’s warning others so they don’t make the same mistake.

“I have been accidentally poisoning myself for at least 3 months,” the text overlay on Anna’s (@yourmom2805) video read.

In the trending video with over 140,000 views, Anna shares that she purchased a large container of maple syrup from Trader Joe’s (it looks like a two-pound bottle), which she uses almost daily to prepare her overnight oats.

She also mentions using it in her chia seed recipes and for creating her own granola.

Recently, Anna started noticing that while the oats tasted “really delicious” when she ate them, by the time she got to work, she felt nauseous. She chalked it up to the Celsius energy drink she’d chug when she got to work and didn’t think much else of it.

As of now.

Anna was adding the last drops left in the maple bottle to her oats, feeling proud that she’d actually finished a whole bottle. As she mixed it up, she took a few seconds to inspect her breakfast concoction.

“I see floating mold in there,” Anna disclosed.

She was confused because the expiration date wasn’t for another two years. That’s when she notices another label. “Please keep refrigerated after opening.”

“So I called my mom, and I told her this, and she was appalled at my stupidity,” Anna said.

“I might actually be the only person in the world who didn’t realize that this needs to be in the refrigerator,” Anna continued. “I got through this entire thing without refrigeration once.”

Her nausea has since stopped, she shared in a comment reply.

In a written reply to the newsbreak, Anna said she wasn’t aware that her syrup needed to be refrigerated because of the type of syrup she had growing up.

“I grew up in a “discount” syrup household – my family would always have the syrup that had more preservatives sitting in our pantry,” she said. “I’m fully aware that most condiments/food items need to be refrigerated, but since I was used to seeing our family’s syrup on a shelf, I never thought twice about storing it that way!”

Anna noted that she wasn’t alone in her mistake, though.

“I’m surprised by the sheer number of comments people left on the video saying they thought the same exact thing,” she wrote. “Funny enough, I received a number of texts from friends saying they had the same syrup that they stored in their pantry… they checked it after seeing my video and also saw mold in their bottles!”

“I’ve definitely learned my lesson & will be thoroughly reading the label from now on,” she concluded.

Surprising items that go in the fridge

Real maple syrup should be stored in the refrigerator since it lacks the preservatives found in the artificial pancake syrup common in childhood. Therefore, for extended storage, it's advisable to keep it cold.

Because of its high sugar levels, maple syrup is susceptible to spoilage and mold growth when left exposed to air. If your maple syrup bottle has been open in the pantry for an extended period, it could be time to dispose of it.

Here are some other goods you might not have known need refrigeration, according to CNET:

• Ketchup – Especially the organic kind.
• Soy sauce – This one won’t spoil, but it will lose it’s freshness and taste.
• Nut flours and whole wheat flours – The wheat germ will spoil faster than in other types of flour.
• Lemons, oranges, and limes – They’ll keep up to four times longer in the fridge.
• Butter – It is dairy, after all.
• Organic nut butters – If you’re not going to finish it within a few weeks, put it in the fridge. The oils can separate and go rancid.
• Nuts – They can keep for up to four months out, but last a whole year in the fridge.
• Tortillas – Refrigeration can extend their freshness from just a week at room temperature to four weeks.

The thing about expiration dates

While Anna was going based on the syrup’s expiration date, she was a bit misguided about how they worked.

The expiration date on a product marks the final day the producer deems it safe for consumption or at its best quality.

However, after a product is opened, the expiration date becomes less dependable. Typically, an opened product can last for a few weeks to several months before it spoils.

Here’s a quick label guide, according to Consumer Reports:

• Best If Used By/Before: This is when the item will taste its best, but it doesn’t indicate how safe an item is to eat. Like how after a certain date, chips may still be safe to eat but may lose their crunch.
• Sell By: Manufacturers add this to communicate to retailers when to remove a product from shelves so that customers have access to food at it’s best quality. This tends to be common with items like milk that require refrigeration.
• Use By: This is the last day the manufacturer guarantees an item will be at peak quality.

Commenter reactions

“If it’s in a bottle and it gets opened, it’s going in the fridge for me,” a top comment read.

“Does nobody read bottles? REFRIDGERATE AFTER OPENING,” a person asked.

“I have never put syrup in the refrigerator, and I’ll have a bottle for a year sometimes,” another shared.