Does Cocktail Sauce go Bad?
Cocktail sauce is constructed with shelf-stable components, but it can spoil quickly. The sauce will quickly grow mold if not stored correctly, resulting in an unpleasant taste and odor. Of course, you should make every effort to store your sauce correctly. The cocktail sauce will gradually lose its flavor and freshness, even if stored properly if it is kept too long after the sell-by date stamped on the bottle.
If this happens over an extended period, the color may also shift. Any mold development on the top surface indicates that the food has gone wrong.