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So I found wedged in my desk an old open bag of store bought potato chips from some months ago. They smell fine, but they've been open for a long while. They're even still reasonably crispy. So my question is:

How can you tell when potato chips are too old to eat safely? Is there such a thing as an unsafe potato chip so long as it appears similar in color and texture as to when I opened it?

Thanks for helping me stave off my hunger or save my life ahead of time ;)

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I'm not really seeing how the shelf life of commercial snack foods relates to cooking. Sorry, I realize that we have plenty of strange food safety/storage questions, but we have to draw the line somewhere. – Aaronut♦ Dec 1 '11 at 0:00
@Aaronut I know it was a stretch, but it was the best fit stack for my question I could find ;) Plus I figured there'd be experts here who could quite likely know the answer. Guess this should be relegated to Yahoo Answers or something eh? – deepee1 Dec 1 '11 at 15:31
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This is a valid question and should be re-opened. Salt is a natural preservative and was used for centuries before the invention of the refrigerator. Therefore, unless you bought some unsalted chips, I would venture to guess they are safe to eat. I am not a doctor though, please consult your physician prior to eating them. In the meantime, I would suggest finding an alternative food source. – scott Dec 1 '11 at 15:45
@scott: Make your case on Seasoned Advice Meta if you want; please indicate why you believe it to be relevant to culinary professionals or home cooks. – Aaronut♦ Dec 1 '11 at 17:49
I found this: meta.cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1135/… . I appears this is an open topic for on or off topic and how to handle questions such as mine. – deepee1 Dec 1 '11 at 19:08
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closed as off topic by Aaronut♦ Dec 1 '11 at 0:00

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