Do food items decay over time even when not found?

[Radio Star]

Will items like food decay in a place I haven’t searched yet?

[IFIYGD]

Yes.
Items that decay over time (food and clothing) will.
Items that decay with use (tools) will not.
Carcasses pre-placed in the game (deer carcasses for example) will only begin decaying once you discover them.
Human corpses do not decay at all (they persist indefinitely and they can be used as containers if needed as you play the game- a tad gross to some people, but some of us use them to stash items).

There are rather overwhelming tables of decays rates for everything in the game listed on the Fandom Wiki, if you are really into details, but I can't say if the rates are accurate still, or if any have changed with updates. Look if you want to, and prepare to drown in data: https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Decay

[iwasa]

A long time ago, in early access, the time line for decay was 100 days and it would be true that items did not decay until they were found. Then (likely as a result of the unexpected popularity of survival sandbox) the time line was changed to 1,000 days and everything that would normally decay with time began to do so from the start of the sandbox.

That doesn't mean you can't find some really high condition items even well past 1,000 days into a sandbox but that might be partially a result of when the region or location was put into the game relative to how long your game has been in progress.

[konzacelt]

One thing to remember is everything does not start at 100%, but rather a random percentage. Most things tend to start in the upper percentages in my experience, but that could be my settings affecting it I suppose.

So for instance, a can of peaches 3 regions away from you may start out at like 40% or something. And depending on how fast you get there it may already be in the red, it just depends.

[konstantinoskountousias]

my opinion is that even if the food decay it souldnt dissapear

[paganSK]

IRL u can freeze raw meat up to 1 year