Moldy Advice

Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., and colleagues answer select questions from readers.
Answer
The answer depends on the type of cheese. Molds are microscopic organisms that have thread-like roots that burrow into the foods they grow on. Most molds are harmless. Molds are even used to make some kinds of cheese, such as Roquefort, Gorgonzola, brie and Camembert. These molds are safe to eat.

But mold on cheese that's not part of the manufacturing process can also harbor harmful bacteria, such as listeria, brucella, salmonella and E. coli. With hard and semisoft cheese, you can cut away the moldy part and eat the rest of the cheese. But soft cheeses should be discarded.

Moldy cheese? What to do
Type of cheese Examples Handling
Hard Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, Parmesan, Romano, Gruyere Safe to eat if the mold is removed. Cut off at least one inch around and below the mold spot. Keep the knife out of the mold itself so that it doesn't cross-contaminate other parts of the cheese. Cover the cheese in fresh wrap.
Semisoft American, Asiago, baby Swiss, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Muenster, Gorgonzola Safe to eat if the mold is removed. Cut off at least one inch around and below the mold spot. Keep the knife out of the mold itself so that it doesn't cross-contaminate other parts of the cheese. Cover the cheese in fresh wrap.
Soft Brie, blue cheese, Camembert, cottage cheese, Neufchatel, feta, ricotta, shredded and sliced cheeses Discard the cheese.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2006

To prevent mold growth on cheese, follow these tips:

Keep cheese and cheese dishes covered with plastic wrap.
Always refrigerate cheese. Don't allow cheese to sit at room temperature for longer than two hours.
Also, don't eat cheese made from unpasteurized (raw) milk. Raw milk and cheeses may contain harmful bacteria and aren't safe to eat, drink or use in cooking.


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http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/AN01024

How long can you safely keep leftovers in the refrigerator?
Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., and colleagues answer select questions from readers.
Answer
According to the Department of Agriculture, you should eat refrigerated leftovers within three to four days. If you don't anticipate being able to eat them within this period of time, freeze them immediately.

To help ensure the safety of leftovers, refrigerate perishable foods quickly and don't let them sit for longer than two hours at room temperature or for longer than one hour if the room temperature is above 90 F (32 C). Perishable foods include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, side dishes and casseroles.

Before eating leftovers, reheat them thoroughly. Reheat leftover sauces, soups and gravies to boiling. If you're using the oven to reheat leftovers, set the temperature to no lower than 325 F (163 C) to ensure they're reheated quickly. Because bacteria multiply between temperatures of 40 F (4 C) and 140 F (60 C), reheating in slow cookers or chafing dishes isn't recommended.

Uncooked foods, such as cold salads or sandwiches, should also be eaten or refrigerated promptly. There aren't any guidelines for how long you can safely keep uncooked foods. But their quality usually deteriorates more quickly than cooked foods.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-safety/AN01095

After cutting off mold, is the remaining food safe to eat?

Use care when deciding which of the "fuzzy" foods hiding in your kitchen you'll try to salvage, said Dr. Janice Stuff, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine and a research dietitian at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston. Some molds produce toxins that can leach into foods and make unsuspecting humans ill.

Discard mold-infected, soft-textured dairy products, meats, leftovers, and fruits and vegetables with a high water content. This includes moldy mozzarella and Brie cheeses, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurts, lunchmeats, bacon, casseroles, stews, butter, jellies, peanut butter, cucumbers, tomatoes, salad greens, corn on the cob, melons, bananas and peaches.

The molds that typically grow on peanuts, rice and corn also produce potent toxins. If mold develops on rice, corn or products that contain these grains, such as cornmeal, flours, mixes, and cereals, toss away the entire box. Discard shriveled peanuts.

On the other hand, if a few precautions are taken, it is safe to pare away the mold from hard or firm foods like Swiss and cheddar cheeses, bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, garlic, onion, zucchini, potatoes, apples and pears. Before eating, carve away at least one inch around the moldy area. Avoid letting the knife touch the affected area to prevent the mold from spreading. Use salvaged portions as soon as possible.

http://www.kidsnutrition.org/consumer/archives/cuttingmold.htm

Is it safe to eat mold?
Question: Hi, What happens when you eat food from the refrigerator which had developed some kind of fungus. What kind of illness can a person suffer from eating this kind of food?

Answer: The fungus you refer to is mold, typically identified by its whitish-green or pinkish-white fuzz. In the short run, eating mold can cause an upset stomach within 24 hours, diarrhea, and cramps. If you don't experience this within 2 or 3 days of eating the moldy food, you're not likely to have any symptoms. The problem with moldy food is consuming it repeatedly over time. It contains a carcinogen (cancer-causing) substance known as aflatoxin. Isolated exposures to aflatoxins would not be enough to cause cancer.

— April 30, 2003
http://studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/answerspot/message.php?message=106






Molds On Food: Are They Dangerous?

What Are Molds?
Are Some Molds Dangerous?
Are Molds Only on the Surface of Food?
Where Are Molds Found?
What Are Some Common Foodborne Molds?
What Are Mycotoxins?
What is Aflatoxin?
How Does the U.S. Government Control Aflatoxins?
Is Mushroom Poisoning Caused by Molds?
Are Any Food Molds Beneficial?
Why Can Mold Grow in the Refrigerator?
How Can You Minimize Mold Growth?
Don’t Buy Moldy Foods
Must Homemade Shelf-Stable Preserves be Water-Bath Processed?
How Can You Protect Food from Mold?
How Should You Handle Food with Mold on It?

Some molds cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems. And a few molds, in the right conditions, produce "mycotoxins," poisonous substances that can make people sick. When you see mold on food, is it safe to cut off the moldy part and use the rest? To find the answer to that question, delve beneath the surface of food to where molds take root.

What Are Molds?
Molds are microscopic fungi that live on plant or animal matter. No one knows how many species of fungi exist, but estimates range from tens of thousands to perhaps 300,000 or more. Most are filamentous (threadlike) organisms and the production of spores is characteristic of fungi in general. These spores can be transported by air, water, or insects.

Unlike bacteria that are one-celled, molds are made of many cells and can sometimes be seen with the naked eye. Under a microscope, they look like skinny mushrooms. In many molds, the body consists of:
root threads that invade the food it lives on,
a stalk rising above the food, and
spores that form at the ends of the stalks.

The spores give mold the color you see. When airborne, the spores spread the mold from place to place like dandelion seeds blowing across a meadow.

Molds have branches and roots that are like very thin threads. The roots may be difficult to see when the mold is growing on food and may be very deep in the food. Foods that are moldy may also have invisible bacteria growing along with the mold.

[Top of Page]

Are Some Molds Dangerous?
Yes, some molds cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems. And a few molds, in the right conditions, produce “mycotoxins,” poisonous substances that can make you sick.

[Top of Page]

Are Molds Only on the Surface of Food?
No, you only see part of the mold on the surface of food -- gray fur on forgotten bologna, fuzzy green dots on bread, white dust on Cheddar, coin-size velvety circles on fruits, and furry growth on the surface of jellies. When a food shows heavy mold growth, “root” threads have invaded it deeply. In dangerous molds, poisonous substances are often contained in and around these threads. In some cases, toxins may have spread throughout the food.

[Top of Page]

Where Are Molds Found?
Molds are found in virtually every environment and can be detected, both indoors and outdoors, year round. Mold growth is encouraged by warm and humid conditions. Outdoors, they can be found in shady, damp areas or places where leaves or other vegetation are decomposing. Indoors, they can be found where humidity levels are high.

Molds form spores which, when dry, float through the air and find suitable conditions where they can start the growth cycle again.

[Top of Page]

What Are Some Common Foodborne Molds?
Molds most often found on meat and poultry are Alternaria, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Monilia, Manoscus, Mortierella, Mucor, Neurospora, Oidium, Oosproa, Penicillium, Rhizopus and Thamnidium. These molds can also be found on many other foods.

[Top of Page]

What Are Mycotoxins?
Mycotoxins are poisonous substances produced by certain molds found primarily in grain and nut crops, but are also known to be on celery, grape juice, apples, and other produce. There are many of them and scientists are continually discovering new ones. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that 25% of the world's food crops are affected by mycotoxins, of which the most notorious are aflatoxins.

[Top of Page]

What is Aflatoxin?
Aflatoxin is a cancer-causing poison produced by certain fungi in or on foods and feeds, especially in field corn and peanuts. They are probably the best known and most intensively researched mycotoxins in the world. Aflatoxins have been associated with various diseases, such as aflatoxicosis in livestock, domestic animals, and humans throughout the world. Many countries try to limit exposure to aflatoxin by regulating and monitoring its presence on commodities intended for use as food and feed. The prevention of aflatoxin is one of the most challenging toxicology issues of present time.

[Top of Page]

How Does the U.S. Government Control Aflatoxins?
Aflatoxins are considered unavoidable contaminants of food and feed, even where good manufacturing practices have been followed. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the USDA monitor peanuts and field corn for aflatoxin and can remove any food or feed with unacceptable levels of it.

[Top of Page]

Is Mushroom Poisoning Caused by Molds?
No, it is due to the toxin produced by the fungi, which are in the same family as molds. Mushroom poisoning is caused by the consumption of raw or cooked mushrooms, which are higher-species of fungi. The term “toadstool” (from the German “Todesstuhl” -- death's stool) is commonly given to poisonous mushrooms, but there is no general rule of thumb for distinguishing edible mushrooms from poisonous toadstools. The toxins that cause mushroom poisoning are produced naturally by the fungi. Most mushrooms that cause human poisoning cannot be made safe by cooking, canning, freezing, or any other processing. The only way to avoid poisoning is not to eat poisonous mushrooms.

[Top of Page]

Are Any Food Molds Beneficial?
Yes, molds are used to make certain kinds of cheeses and can be on the surface of cheese or be developed internally. Blue veined cheese such as Roquefort, blue, Gorgonzola, and Stilton are created by the introduction of P. roqueforti or Penicillium roqueforti spores. Cheeses such as Brie and Camembert have white surface molds. Other cheeses have both an internal and a surface mold. The molds used to manufacture these cheeses are safe to eat.

[Top of Page]

Why Can Mold Grow in the Refrigerator?
While most molds prefer warmer temperatures, they can grow at refrigerator temperatures, too. Molds also tolerate salt and sugar better than most other food invaders. Therefore, molds can grow in refrigerated jams and jelly and on cured, salty meats -- ham, bacon, salami, and bologna.

[Top of Page]

How Can You Minimize Mold Growth?
Cleanliness is vital in controlling mold. Mold spores from affected food can build up in your refrigerator, dishcloths, and other cleaning utensils.
Clean the inside of the refrigerator every few months with 1 tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in a quart of water. Rinse with clear water and dry. Scrub visible mold (usually black) on rubber casings using 3 teaspoons of bleach in a quart of water.
Keep dishcloths, towels, sponges, and mops clean and fresh. A musty smell means they’re spreading mold around. Discard items you can’t clean or launder.
Keep the humidity level in the house below 40%.

[Top of Page]

Don’t Buy Moldy Foods
Examine food well before you buy it. Check food in glass jars, look at the stem areas on fresh produce, and avoid bruised produce. Notify the store manager about mold on foods!

Fresh meat and poultry are usually mold free, but cured and cooked meats may not be. Examine them carefully. Exceptions: Some salamis -- San Francisco, Italian, and Eastern European types -- have a characteristic thin, white mold coating which is safe to consume; however, they shouldn’t show any other mold. Dry-cured country hams normally have surface mold that must be scrubbed off before cooking.

[Top of Page]

Must Homemade Shelf-Stable Preserves be Water-Bath Processed?
Yes, molds can thrive in high-acid foods like jams, jellies, pickles, fruit, and tomatoes. But these microscopic fungi are easily destroyed by heat processing high-acid foods at a temperature of 212 °F in a boiling water canner for the recommended length of time. For more information about processing home-canned foods, go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation at: www.uga.edu/nchfp/.

[Top of Page]

How Can You Protect Food from Mold?
When serving food, keep it covered to prevent exposure to mold spores in the air. Use plastic wrap to cover foods you want to stay moist -- fresh or cut fruits and vegetables, and green and mixed salads.
Empty opened cans of perishable foods into clean storage containers and refrigerate them promptly.
Don’t leave any perishables out of the refrigerator more than 2 hours.
Use leftovers within 3 to 4 days so mold doesn’t have a chance to grow.

[Top of Page]

How Should You Handle Food with Mold on It?
Buying small amounts and using food quickly can help prevent mold growth. But when you see moldy food:
Don’t sniff the moldy item. This can cause respiratory trouble.
If food is covered with mold, discard it. Put it into a small paper bag or wrap it in plastic and dispose in a covered trash can that children and animals can’t get into.
Clean the refrigerator or pantry at the spot where the food was stored.
Check nearby items the moldy food might have touched. Mold spreads quickly in fruits and vegetables.
See the attached chart “Moldy Food: When to Use, When to Discard.”



Molds on Food
FOOD HANDLING REASON
Luncheon meats, bacon, or hot dogs Discard Foods with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface. Moldy foods may also have bacteria growing along with the mold.
Hard salami and dry-cured country hams Use. Scrub mold off surface. It is normal for these shelf-stable products to have surface mold.
Cooked leftover meat and poultry Discard Foods with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface. Moldy foods may also have bacteria growing along with the mold.
Cooked casseroles Discard Foods with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface. Moldy foods may also have bacteria growing along with the mold.
Cooked grain and pasta Discard Foods with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface. Moldy foods may also have bacteria growing along with the mold.
Hard cheese
(not cheese where mold is part of the processing) Use. Cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself so it will not cross-contaminate other parts of the cheese). After trimming off the mold, re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap. Mold generally cannot penetrate deep into the product.
Cheese made with mold
(such as Roquefort, blue, Gorgonzola, Stilton, Brie, Camembert) Discard soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert if they contain molds that are not a part of the manufacturing process. If surface mold is on hard cheeses such as Gorgonzola and Stilton, cut off mold at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot and handle like hard cheese (above). Molds that are not a part of the manufacturing process can be dangerous.
Soft cheese
(such as cottage, cream cheese, Neufchatel, chevre, Bel Paese, etc.) Crumbled, shredded, and sliced cheeses (all types) Discard Foods with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface. Shredded, sliced, or crumbled cheese can be contaminated by the cutting instrument. Moldy soft cheese can also have bacteria growing along with the mold.
Yogurt and sour cream Discard Foods with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface. Moldy foods may also have bacteria growing along with the mold.
Jams and jellies Discard The mold could be producing a mycotoxin. Microbiologists recommend against scooping out the mold and using the remaining condiment.
Fruits and vegetables, firm
(such as cabbage, bell peppers, carrots, etc.) Use. Cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself so it will not cross-contaminate other parts of the produce). Small mold spots can be cut off fruits and vegetables with low moisture content. It’s difficult for mold to penetrate dense foods.
Fruits and vegetables, soft
(such as cucumbers, peaches, tomatoes, etc.) Discard Fruits and vegetables with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface.
Bread and baked goods Discard Porous foods can be contaminated below the surface.
Peanut butter, legumes and nuts Discard Foods processed without preservatives are at high risk for mold.

September 2005


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Molds_On_Food/index.asp

How dangerous is eating moldy bread?


Someonesbaby [47] contributed the first answer. The last improvement was made by Deavaindra [164].


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Answer
Food poisoning is caused by various bacterial organisms. Mold is not a bacteria and will not cause food poisoning. Mold does not cause botulism unless the product was already contaminated with the botulism organism. Mold can cause illness, especially if the person is allergic to molds. Usually though, the main symptoms from eating moldy food will be nausea or vomiting from the bad taste and smell of the moldy food.

Mold on grain products is the worst - e.g. moldy bread, moldy muffins, etc. - and should be thrown out. Also throw out the following if mold appears: small fruits like grapes, berries, melons and peaches; soft cheeses or yogurt; meat, peanuts, peanut butter or leftovers.

It is not okay to eat mouldy food even after the mold has been cut off, as surface mold is more than what you see. It actually has hyphae or roots which can penetrate deeper into the food.

It depends on the bread mold, some are harmless, some are indigestible and can make you throw up, some are poisonous and can make you very ill or kill you. Just throw it away and make or buy more. You can store bread in the fridge to slow mold growth if you find that it molds before you use it all, I do this in the summer because my bread can get moldy in as little as two days when it is very hot and humid.


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_dangerous_is_eating_moldy_bread

Ask A Scientist
General Science Archive

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bread and Mold Topics
12/6/2005

name David
status other
grade other
location NY

Question - I'm a retired teacher, age 71.
I make bread every week for my own enjoyment. I keep it at room
temperature in a (new) plastic bag. About 6 days after making it, it
gets moldy.

Q-1 What can I do to extend the pre-moldy period a few days? I have
observed that commercialy prepared breads stay mold-free for
considerably longer periods of time.

Q-2 Is it OK to eat bread molds? My son is color blind and often
can't see the color difference between the mold and the bread's crust.
---------------------------------------
Commercially prepared breads usually have preservatives to prevent mold
from growing on them. A very common mold inhibitor is calcium
propionate, which is toxic to molds. It is also toxic to humans at high
concentrations, although it is probably harmless at the concentrations
found in bread. Since one of the benefits of making your own bread is
that you get to eat bread that is free of preservatives, I think adding
a preservative might be self-defeating.

Eating bread mold is not a good idea. While many kinds of mold are
perfectly harmless, there are some extremely nasty molds out there that
can make you very ill. Some of them are even quite common. I recall a
mycology professor of mine used to say that mold on bread isn't worth
the risk, but that mold on cheese is fairly safe.

C. Perkins
====================================================================
First off, bread that is moldy in any way should not be eaten and be
discarded immediatley. A few suggestions: After baking, the bread should be
cooled and stored in a breathable container for the first day. If you wish
to keep it for more than a few days, it should be refridgerated in a sealed
container only after cooled and dry on the oustside. If you wish, you can
also freeze the bread in a freezer bag. Do not reuse cheap plastic bags to
freeze the bread since they are typically polyethylene and are actually NOT
air tight...they breath and what will happen is the bread will get "freezer
burnt" which means the self defrosting freezer will dry out the bread.. I
would suggest that bread stored in the fridge should be discarded after 5
days. Stored in the freezer it will last a few months easily. By the way,
our sense that is most sensitive to detecting mold is not the sense of sight
but of smell.

Pf
====================================================================
A good way to extend your breads life is to keep it in a dark,dry, cool
area. Mold needs moisture and heat to grow, and many molds need light to
grow. Keeping the bread in something airtight will also help (like a
zip-lock bag). Just make sure to squeeze as much air as possible out of the
bag before closing it. Most molds will not do any harm if they are not
ingested in large quantities. The blue in blue cheese is actually mold!

Grace Fields
====================================================================
The carbohydrate etc. in the bread dough is food for bacteria and mold just
as it is for you. I would store the dough in the fridge until you are ready
to bake it. You can take it out of the fridge for a period before you bake
it if you like, but as long as it is at room temp. the bacteria and mold
that are in the air (and inside a bag you store it in!) are going to start
having a feast. Refrigeration slows them down.

vanhoeck
====================================================================
Q-1 Commercially prepared breads contain specific chemical preservatives
that inhibit the growth of many microorganisms (molds, bacteria, fungi). I
would hesitate to offer a particular chemical additive because there are
many and it would not clear how it would affect the other properties of the
bread. The ingredients in bread -- flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and so on are
great feeding grounds for all sorts of microbes -- some harmless, some not
so harmless. Add to that warmth and water and you have the makings of a good
garden for a lot of "bugs". Two general approaches would be to limit the
amount of oxygen available by storing the dough tightly in plastic bags
(which you already do apparently), and refrigeration/freezing which inhibits
the growth of most microbes. The websites below may provide you with some
additional insights into preservation of the dough. But storing uncooked
dough for days is inviting the risk of possible food poisoning -- bake it,
then store it.

http://www.math.unl.edu/~jump/Center1/Labs/Control%20of%20Molds%20in%20Breads.pdf

http://www.breadmachinedigest.com/library/dough_enhancers.html

http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/4/0,5716,120864+4+111136,00.html

http://www.seps.org/oracle/oracle.archive/Living_Things.K-5/2001.01/000978561940.16730.html

Q-2 Unless you or your son is a microbiologist, I would not recommend eating
bread mold, or even raw dough for that matter. There are just too many
possible harmful microbes that can grow in/on bread.

Vince Calder
====================================================================
Some possibly helpful sites:

http://www.fi.edu/tfi/units/life/forums/living/bread.html

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01509.htm

http://www.sirinet.net/~jgjohnso/fungi.html

J. Elliott
====================================================================

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01955.htm