I can buy olives from the unrefrigerated buckets in a local Italian market, so I'd treat them as safe. But just in case, I'd eat them too -- that way if I was wrong we'd all go together. lol!

I also buy olives in bulk at times. I think the vinegar and salt would preserve them well enough - they generally have a lot of salt. If they are still firm, they should be okay, and I would not hesitate to eat them myself.

I'd eat a few and see what happens before giving them your precious offspring. Canary in the coal mine and all of that.

A vehement no. Not so much because there was no "pop" but because there's no way to know if they were preserved by someone who's aware of safe practices.

Thanks. I'm skeptical...they look to be commercially packaged with a bar code and use-by date. Packed 12/16, use by 1/19. Which is why I expected a sealed jar! No "refrigerate after opening" though. Unfortunately the spouse won't eat green olives and I don't want ME or the kids to test them out.

Darn it.

ETA, we cross posted. They're probably fine if commercially produced. Sometimes there's a good seal that just doesn't pop. Still, if you're worried, don't take the chance.

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Don't green olives have a special kind of processing with caustic chemicals? I wouldn't consume them without a label. If there's a label with the name of the people who made them, I'd look them up online and call. The olives may have been commercially produced and just jarred in the vinegar, etc., by the vendor, at which point they should be fine if they seem "fresh", but there's no way of knowing without at least talking to them.

It's not worth the risk if you really don't know who made them and how.

Your original post suggested they were not commercially packaged. I'd be much less concerned since they aren't just a jar somebody brought to a farmer's market. Still ... the upside, you get to eat some olives, really doesn't balance the possible downside, you get sick. And I sure wouldn't give any doubtful food to a child.

Commercial-ish. They don't look quite professional.

I think we will pass. Olives aren't that hard to come by. Plus they have pits. :)

I worked for a restaurant that the owners had an olive grove. We still go olive picking in the season. Olives do not need to be processed to be in the jar.

I wouldn't be worried about bacteria so much as green olives improperly processed by amateurs with lye or other caustics. I've read stories about it not being done right and the chemicals staying in the food.

I'd have no qualms about ripe olives that were properly labelled.