16. Soy sauce
Does soy sauce need to be refrigerated? The short answer is no, soy sauce doesn’t need to be refrigerated, most of the time. Thanks to its extremely high sodium content, an opened bottle of soy sauce will keep fine for at least a few months at room temperature. If the soy sauce bottle is still unopened, you can safely put it in a cool, dark place, stored away from heat and direct sunlight.
There’s a lot of sodium in soy sauce and that makes it difficult for bacteria to grow and cause it to go bad. You will probably notice a difference in flavor after a longer time though. As soy sauce manufacturer Kikkoman notes; once opened, the soy sauce will start to lose its freshness and the flavor will begin to change. By refrigerating the sauce, the flavor and quality will remain at their peak for a longer period. As long as no water or other ingredients have been added to the soy sauce, it would not spoil if it had not been refrigerated.