[Karakay]

I've been perplexed by this long enough and joined this forum just to pose this question:

What's up with the various brands of boxed soups/broths that claim to be organic (and appear to be by ingredients list), and yet...they seem to last FOREVER even after opened?! I occasionally like to use these soups or broths (mostly) for flavoring other dishes and they taste acceptable and are certainly CONVENIENT. Living alone, it's hard to keep up with eliminating "science experiments" from corners of my fridge, but this is one product that NEVER seems to go bad or even carry an off flavor. When I suspect they may have lurked there for months, I will toss them, even though (amazingly), they still smell ok.

So, what's going on? Again, these are all labeled, "natural, organic, no hormones, antibiotics" etc, but they seem to have a truly unnatural lifespan. Does anyone have some insight or guesses? My guess is that they are irradiated, but I thought irradiated food had to be labeled.