Mordax et al

Listen, dear reader, to my strange tale of woe and buttery spread.

When butter just wasn’t enough for me, I switched over to country crock. I bought a tub about three weeks ago; it was easy to spread. There was lots of it. We were happy together.

Yesterday a left my delicious spread out on the table for about half a day, a not entirely unusual occurrence. It was about 70F in the kitchen. When it was time for bed, I put that spread away in the refrigerator. There was about half a tub left.

This morning when I got up, all I wanted to do was add a fried egg to my frozen sausage biscuit. So I got out the spread, ready to once again partake of its delicious spreadiness.

But, horror and shock when I opened the tub! Some thick, viscous yellow substance had overtaken my favorite spread, pooling atop it, a dark yellow stain.

In my dismay I reached for the nearest utensil (a large fork) and attempted to resuscitate my dear spread. I hoped that it was not too late, that it was merely separated, and a good forking could bring it back to its usual creamy consistency.

But alas, when I looked again, gone was the filmy yellow mucus, indeed, but now the spread was lumpy! Curded, almost, like some sickly yellow cottage cheese! And what’s more there was now a pocket of what seemed to be clear water, pooling in one corner of the bucket.

A cavalcade of emotions played over me. Sadness, disgust, horror at the fate of my most wretched, disfigured spread. I knew it would never be the same.

I did the only merciful thing.

Now I seek neither vengeance nor resurrection, only knowledge. What could have caused my delicious, buttery spread to mutate so horribly? There was so much for it to look forward to, so many meals it will never help me enjoy.
What happened to my spread, and what can I do to ensure this heinous plague never again overtakes another tub?