Ever come across a question you didn’t realise you urgently needed an answer to until someone asks it?

That happens to me all the time when I’m scrolling through social media. And recently, a peek at Reddit’s r/AskUK got my thoughts racing.

“How does this tikka masala ready meal have a five-week shelf life with 0.5% salt and no obvious preservatives?”, site user u/Beautiful-Salt7885 asked members of the forum.

They attached an image of a microwave meal’s ingredient list before asking, “Is there an error with the best before?”

Why DO microwave meals have such a long shelf life?

Speaking to Huffpost UK, Bryan Quoc Le , a food scientist, food industry consultant, and author of 150 Food Science Questions Answered , said: “Retort processing is taking a food product and heating it

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