Spoilage is chemistry, and chemistry has a throttle: the reactions that stale, brown and sour a product all run faster when it is warm. Each curve is first-order quality decay at one storage temperature, computed from the Arrhenius law with Ea = 80 kJ/mol and calibrated to a 90-day chilled life at 4 °C. Between 15 °C and 25 °C the shelf life falls by a factor of three — that ratio is Q₁₀. A weekend on a 35 °C dock costs more life than a month in the cooler: time and temperature are one currency, and temperature sets the exchange rate.