Can You Eat Around The Mold?
It is not recommended to eat around the mold. Mold can produce toxins, called mycotoxins, that can be harmful to humans and animals. In some cases, consuming food that has mold on it can cause allergic reactions and respiratory issues. It is best to discard any food that has visible mold on it to avoid potential health risks.
Be warned, the USDA also keeps a list of other foods that should always be thrown out when you find mold. Thanks to the USDA, we learned what foods you absolutely must toss out if you spot even the slightest hint of mold. You are likely throwing out every food that has even the smallest bit of mold, but you could save yourself an additional trip down your recycling bin by eating a few of these moldy foods instead.
Aside from the molds that are deliberately part of foods–ahem, blue cheese!–you do not actually want to eat moldy foods. For a lot of the moldy foods that are unsafe to eat, there is a really good chance the mold has grown into the food more deeply than you thought. The mold is probably growing even below the surface, and there is a very good chance the mold is traveling with the bacteria.
While cutting out the mold seems to be a simple fix, there may still be some other nasty substances left behind. Because the thread-like roots of the mold can get deeply embedded in the food, simply eliminating the apparently harmful components would not be enough to remove the mold. For example, When mold is found on fruits and vegetables that are not very soft, these mold roots cannot get deeply into the food. For cheese, when mold is not a part of the process, the mold usually cannot go deep in the product.
Hard cheeses (not to be confused with ones that do have mold as part of the process) are edible as long as you trim at least 1 inch around and under the mold. If those cheeses, like Gorgonzola and Stilton, do have mold around the cheeses surface, then you can consume those cheeses if you cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold location.
| Is it okay to eat cheese that has mold on its one part? | Can blue cheese go bad? |
| If only one part of a hard cheese, like Parmesan, is moldy, you can cut the part that is moldy and eat the rest. | Blue cheese can go bad if not stored properly. |
| Just be sure to cut at least 1 inch around and underneath the moldy section with knife and then wrap the good portion of cheese in a new foil. | It lasts for 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator. |
If only one part of a harder cheese, like Parmesan, is moldy, you can cut the part that is moldy — and at least an inch around and below the moldy part — and eat the rest. Just be sure to cut at least one inch around and underneath the moldy section, take the knife off of the mold, and wrap the good portion of food in new foil. After cutting away contaminated portions, wrap your food in fresh covering, like plastic wrap.
If you are not too shaken up about that moldy spot on your food, you may be tempted to simply slice it off and keep eating, but whether or not this is really a good idea depends on the food. Because of that, there are certain types of foods you should never eat after seeing mold on them – even if you do cut off mold. Most of the time, seeing mold for the first time is a sign that you should just toss that food straight in the garbage — and chances are, you would be better off doing that.
While mold can create mycotoxins in foods, this typically does not occur until the mold has reached maturity and conditions are right — i.e., the food has gone bad. You should worry about mold only when it has grown long enough to reach maturity and release mycotoxin, which are toxic substances that can make you very sick.
You may get a case of sickness after you accidentally eat those molds, but it is more likely that is because mold tastes bad, rather than because there is some specific toxins there, says Rudolph Bedford.
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It seems a fairly safe bet that, if you really have a mold allergy, accidentally eating a little mold does not really impact your body that badly. That is, not all mold is toxic or harmful for you to eat, let us say, mold growing on blue cheese. Even cheeses made without a blob of mold are safe to eat if you find a tiny bit of mold growing on it. Cheesemakers use mold strains that cannot make mycotoxin, so types such as blue cheese are perfectly safe to eat.
Because it is hard for molds to get deep into solid cheeses, they may survive as long as they are not badly affected by mold. Softer cheeses, like cottage cheese, may have been contaminated beneath the surface, and can have bacteria growing alongside the mold. The molds finger-like organisms may penetrate deeper in the Softer Cheeses and may grow to toxic substances. Yogurt and Sour Cream may create mycotoxin if they grow mold, so microbiologists advise against removing molds and using leftovers.
Firm foods are higher in moisture and therefore can get contaminated by mold — that has hard-to-see, fine, stringy branches and roots — beneath the surface. Any produce that has a high humidity composition is likely contaminated above and beyond what is visible, meaning that it is inviting more microbes to get in alongside of mold before we know it.
Some ingredients start molding more quickly than others, but if you do not store them in the right place, and you do not eat them immediately, it is quite easy to make foods susceptible to mold. Some people are allergic to edible molds that are in everyday foods, such as meats that have been aged and some cheeses. This nasty mould grows on a broad range of foods, including fruits and vegetables, breads, lunch meats, jams, salsas, and seasonings. Things like bread, cakes, soft fruits, and pizza are porous, so things like bread are never safe to eat after mold is found.
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Mold has long, stringy roots that can penetrate into a puffy baked Goods such as breads and muffins, so even if you toss out a piece with spots, it is impossible to know just how many microscopic molds are present throughout the rest of the loaf. When you see a little something splotchy in cream cheese, or a suspicious blotch in bread, it is tempting to just shave off the mold and go for a snack. The good news is, mold usually tastes really nasty, so chances are, you will spot it and spit it out. Because mold is easy to get into soft foods due to how it grows–whether that means bread, cheese, meat, or sauces–it needs to be thrown out ASAP.
Before you go ahead and gnaw on that fruit or throw that bread into the toaster, heres what could happen if you eat mold, according to experts.
Can you eat around mold on bread?
It is ultimately this that matters most. A loaf of bread with visible spots or mould on it should not be eaten. Despite the fact that you cannot see them, the mould roots can spread quickly through bread. People with mold allergies may experience breathing problems if they eat moldy bread, and if you inhale mold spores, you may encounter illness if you eat stale bread.
Can I remove mold and still eat?
“There will probably be some parts you will have to cut away, but that’s a good rule of thumb.” The same applied to some super-dense meats, like hard salami and cured ham. If mold is present, Kirkpatrick says you can cut it away and still enjoy the beef, but again, you should avoid scraping it.
What happens if I eat mold?
Again, the likelihood that anything will happen if you consume mold is high, though you could feel a little queasy. To become ill, Detwiler asserts, “you would need a severely underdeveloped immune system and to eat a lot of molds.” Even that won’t likely result in your death.