I have a friend whose kid found mold spots on a chicken turnover. My friend told the kid to put it back in the fridge and they would eat it later after cutting away the moldy spots on the outside. They insist that this is okay. I wish they had not told me. I don’t consider it safe but cannot convince my friend to throw it away. They are very frugal about food. My arguments about food poisoning didn’t convince them. What would you say to this person? I could only ask them not to tell me more stories about eating spoiled food.
ah sorry for the late response. i would probably tell them that by the time you can see visible mold on the surface of food, there are lots of spores you cant even see below the surface, especially for soft/porous/cooked foods like chicken turnover, and that there are many different kinds of mold, some which can be very dangerous to your health and some which are not. we should treat all molds as dangerous when on food (when its not part of the process of making the food, like in blue cheese. those molds are all safe) since its hard to tell just visually if its going to be harmful or not, however this means that just because you often eat moldy food and dont get sick doesnt make it safe to do so and theres no guarantee the next time you try it youre not going to get very sick. molds that have high levels of mycotoxins can have a variety of effects, such as vomiting, fever, gastrointestinal problems, infection, dental issues, liver issues, and even death.
long term exposure to low levels of mycotoxins (as i expect theyre getting if theyre doing this regularly) can suppress your immune system and increase risks of developing cancer, as well as make any other illnesses they get harder to deal with. since you mentioned they have a kid, i feel its also important to point out that this is doubly true for children who have significantly weaker immune systems then adults.
thats not to mention that where theres mold, theres often also bacteria cultures. (another reason why we treat all mold as dangerous when not a controlled part of the food making process. we dont know what else is growing along with it.) different strains of bacteria also have a myriad of potential harmful effects when consumed, though i suspect we all know that already and i wont waste your time going over every single kind of bacterial infection.
and finally, if theyre putting the contaminated food back in the fridge, theyre likely contaminating the fridge and the rest of the food and consuming even more spores thereby increasing potential exposure to mycotoxins and all associated health risks. . best to throw the chicken out.
thats a valid response but some people dont like to waste food or have trouble affording to buy more if they have to throw it out, so its good to know if its safe so maybe they dont have to. its also good to know for sure whats unsafe, since many people who have this perspective of not wasting food will just get rid of the moldy part and assume that means its okay to eat now. my parents i know personally will just take moldy slices out of a loaf of bread and throw away the individual slices and eat the rest. personally mold squicks me out and i throw "safe" foods away as well.
This. I do this with bread, as my parents taught me to do. Thank you for enlightening me! It feels very wasteful, but it's worth it not to roll the dice getting sick. I'm better off financially now, so I don't struggle to buy more food, but some habits stick with you.
no problem :) if you want to feel less wasteful, just think about all the spores tbat are throughout the bread just that you cant see them. its pretty gross, but if its okay to throw out the visibly moldy slices its ok to throw the others out too
My parents did this too, but there were times when I could still TASTE mold on the "unaffected" slices. I think with porous foods like bread, the mold spreads through and some of the mold isn't visible and can be throughout the slices even if you don't see it on the surface.
Ok, but what happens if you do eat moldy food anyway? For me, I always cut mold off of produce, even soft fruits and vegetables like the ones listed in the chart. I know there's a chance there's mold that has reached the rest of it but...
I don't get sick though. And I have a friend who is even more committed to reducing food waste than I am, she regularly eats visible mold on foods and soft foods legit going bad, and she NEVER gets sick (and she's 60 years old)
Green in small amounts is normally safe when it’s on things like bread.
White and black mold is more commonly dangerous and I’d avoid eating even small amounts of it just to be safe. Every mold is a different type even if the colour is the same, the colour is normally just based on what food or object it’s growing on, black mold sometimes is actually white but dust makes it look dark.
Our immune system sucks at fighting fungal infections so it’s better to safe then sorry just don’t over stress about small amounts of mold on food because everything has mold on it once it’s outside at least mold spores so your body can fight it just not as easily as bacteria or viruses
Breathing in any kind of mold is far more dangerous then eating it.
I don't get sick either. I always pinch off the mold from bread and scrape it off jam and yoghurt, never gotten sick. But I've been doing it for 40+ years, my body might be used to it.
Maybe I'm just a farm tough immune system but I've never once been sick cutting mold off many of these things, I don't recommend it but cheese of any kind is fine imo, bread molds are penicillin strains typically but I don't mess with it unless it's small spots, overall a pretty cool chart though thanks!
Ergot is the precursor to modern day LSD, and may cause temporary hallucinations but definitely not any permanent insanity (unless you were already a hairtrigger away from losing it in the first place lol). Worst case your bread will make you trip.
When I was young I had a friend that worked at McDonald’s. He told me to never eat there because he found mold in a bag of buns, and asked his manager what to do with them. Manager told him to scrape it off.
And you know there are some obvious red flags like if it’s fuzzy or if it’s slimy or if it’s a color that doesn’t match the color of the cheese that when you bought it, those are all red flags 🚩 any concerns like at all
= When in doubt throw it out!!
But if there’s even a question and you’re just unsure ? 🫤 Just throw it out, cause you can’t tell…
Here’s the sketchy part.. it absolutely could grow a harmful mold that matches the same color and consistency as the strain that’s in cheese appearing like the green-blue mold color that’s the same color that’s in the crumbly part of the blue cheese and it could be a spot growing on the outside that perfectly matches what’s going on inside the part that that’s supposed to be there!
So it’s dicey to think about..
I think from now on personally, if I’m gonna buy blue cheese, I’m definitely going to consume it pretty quickly… and keep a very close eye on it!
Cuz now I’ve made myself super paranoid… I love blue cheese, but I love my health much more!
Ha ha! Good points! I wonder what you consider “very quickly”? Also, I keep my other cheeses wrapped in wax paper and the tend to stay fresh a lot longer.
Thank you! 🙏 that’s an awesome pro tip! Same. I’m gonna do the same… wax paper! 💯 from now on..and yeah I realized even if I get the cheese and consume it pretty rapidly? Who’s to say that it was good coming out of the deli or out of the case? 🤔
That’s a really really really good question! Because just because you have a moldy cheese that’s supposed to have mold like blue cheese for example doesn’t mean that it makes it impervious to other microbial growth, it could grow other harmful molds.. and how would you even be able to tell? It’s worrisome!
No, if it says “scrub off”, they mean, cut off and you’re supposed to cut a 1 inch ring around, that’s a rule.. but even then I would advise against it!!
It’s dangerous mold kills!
I’m not kidding, I lost a family member to a fungal infection… 😔
Also if you have raw meat with white furry mold - discard. If you have dry aged steaks then cut away the pellicle and it’s fine as long as the colour is red inside. Pretty sure white mold is ok but blue green or black is no no. Correct me if wrong
No unless if it’s a food whose process involves mold like blue cheese.. but that should only be from the merchant or manufacturer … not overgrowth !! Just because blue cheese has a specific kind of mold, doesn’t mean it can’t grow other more harmful kinds of molds as well, or other harmful microbial growth!
…it’s NEVER consume spoiled food…
Some people say it’s OK to cut away like hard root vegetables that have microbial growth an inch around the area, or hard salami , or hard cheese…but I wouldn’t even chance that!!
There are many people who are sensitive to allergens… and find out the hard way that they are sensitive (from different kinds of allergies to, lung function, G.I. upset the list goes on… I mean you can end up with a systemic infection, or an acute allergic reaction like anaphylaxis… it’s pretty dangerous!)
i dont want to be rude here. if you want to throw out all moldy food be my guest, i would to. but is your take here really that the usda knows less about food safety then you?
to some people it is. to you personally it might not be. plus this isnt "is this valuable information that every single person will want to use in their every day life" subreddit, this is r/moldyinteresting, the subreddit for interesting information and pcitures about mold
ah. i see. i misinterpreted. from an objective standpoint, yes. it may save you money and time and does not pose any risk to your wellbeing. food safety guidelines are incredibly strict, its not dangerous or harmful if you follow these guidelines. from a subjective standpoint, i wouldnt. were biologically programmed to be wary of and grossed out by mold, and personally my mold ick goes so far that i wouldnt be able to eat something that had ever been moldy even if i can recognize that its objectively safe.
Yes they do, lol. You're not aware that the FDA has an acceptable amount of rat feces and insect parts that's allowed to be in grains?
They let contamination slide all the time, otherwise they'd be throwing away thousands of pounds of grain each day, and we'd suffer from extreme supply shortages.
If you're buying food at a store, you're eating that stuff whether you want to or not. Only way around it is growing your own food.
can you provide a source for this please? the source i provided from the usda says its okay. i cannot imagine where restaurants would be getting their guidelines if not from the usda (at least in america). restaurants also may throw this food out out of convenience. they budget for a certain amount of wasted and spoiled food and if theyre keeping up with food safety guidelines mold should rarely if ever be appearing in the first place.
I don’t have a source but it’s common sense. I work in fast food and we date foods and have throw them out long before they would even get moldy. My manager wouldn’t let me cut mold off some food and hand it out to a customer. It’s just common sense.
exactly. the food isnt mouldy to begin with, like i said in my comment. however if you follow the above guidelines if you did get mold, you wouldnt be doing anything wrong or harmful. a restaurant might not follow this, but if they did it would be okay.
If that was the case then we would cut the mold off and use products without dates. It would not be okay whether usada states it or not. The health department wouldn’t be ok with that. They’ve freaked out over less before.
The most harmful bacteria don't smell and sometimes food can smell different and be fine to eat. "Smelling funny" and "being bad for you" don't overlap enough to be useful
I have instant ground up coffee jar (Nescafé) that grew little hairs all on the surface but not completely covered white, the expiration is well over a year away but it has been opened already and sat in my cabinet for a year, is it bad?
Not safe to use. Also the dry coffee solids make it extremely easy for the mold spores to (pun not intended, but welcomed) instantly contaminate the entire container. I know I'm a month late, but for future reference black and white molds are generally considered the most likely to be dangerous and even deadly. I personally know someone who died a couple years ago due to extended exposure to black mold in his house.
I got food poisoning a couple years ago. I made a small salad with a cucumber and feta cheese. It tasted normal, but both had been in the fridge over a month. I woke up hallucinating, violently vomiting, tried to stand up at some point and blacked out, woke up on the floor awhile later. Lasted about 12 hrs. I'd throw out $8 every hour for the rest of my life to never feel that again. Absolutely should have been in the hospital but I couldn't think rationally in that state. luckily it eventually passed, but I still felt sick for a whole week after.
Tl;Dr Pay attention to what you consume, it might look and taste normal, but if it's something like feta cheese it could be bad and you'll never know it till you feel like you're going to die
Awesome chart. Thank you. I’ve stickied this post.
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/molds-food-are-they-dangerous. if you arent sure, always discard.
“When in doubt, throw it out.”
that was the rule working in a grocery produce section for me. I live by it.
this image is moldy
[removed]
no problem :)
I have a friend whose kid found mold spots on a chicken turnover. My friend told the kid to put it back in the fridge and they would eat it later after cutting away the moldy spots on the outside. They insist that this is okay. I wish they had not told me. I don’t consider it safe but cannot convince my friend to throw it away. They are very frugal about food. My arguments about food poisoning didn’t convince them. What would you say to this person? I could only ask them not to tell me more stories about eating spoiled food.
ah sorry for the late response. i would probably tell them that by the time you can see visible mold on the surface of food, there are lots of spores you cant even see below the surface, especially for soft/porous/cooked foods like chicken turnover, and that there are many different kinds of mold, some which can be very dangerous to your health and some which are not. we should treat all molds as dangerous when on food (when its not part of the process of making the food, like in blue cheese. those molds are all safe) since its hard to tell just visually if its going to be harmful or not, however this means that just because you often eat moldy food and dont get sick doesnt make it safe to do so and theres no guarantee the next time you try it youre not going to get very sick. molds that have high levels of mycotoxins can have a variety of effects, such as vomiting, fever, gastrointestinal problems, infection, dental issues, liver issues, and even death.
long term exposure to low levels of mycotoxins (as i expect theyre getting if theyre doing this regularly) can suppress your immune system and increase risks of developing cancer, as well as make any other illnesses they get harder to deal with. since you mentioned they have a kid, i feel its also important to point out that this is doubly true for children who have significantly weaker immune systems then adults.
thats not to mention that where theres mold, theres often also bacteria cultures. (another reason why we treat all mold as dangerous when not a controlled part of the food making process. we dont know what else is growing along with it.) different strains of bacteria also have a myriad of potential harmful effects when consumed, though i suspect we all know that already and i wont waste your time going over every single kind of bacterial infection.
and finally, if theyre putting the contaminated food back in the fridge, theyre likely contaminating the fridge and the rest of the food and consuming even more spores thereby increasing potential exposure to mycotoxins and all associated health risks. . best to throw the chicken out.
Just found this post but I gotta say ur doing gods work, thank u <3
That’s neat but I just throw away anything with mold. I don’t really care if it’s “okay” to eat tbh.
thats a valid response but some people dont like to waste food or have trouble affording to buy more if they have to throw it out, so its good to know if its safe so maybe they dont have to. its also good to know for sure whats unsafe, since many people who have this perspective of not wasting food will just get rid of the moldy part and assume that means its okay to eat now. my parents i know personally will just take moldy slices out of a loaf of bread and throw away the individual slices and eat the rest. personally mold squicks me out and i throw "safe" foods away as well.
This. I do this with bread, as my parents taught me to do. Thank you for enlightening me! It feels very wasteful, but it's worth it not to roll the dice getting sick. I'm better off financially now, so I don't struggle to buy more food, but some habits stick with you.
no problem :) if you want to feel less wasteful, just think about all the spores tbat are throughout the bread just that you cant see them. its pretty gross, but if its okay to throw out the visibly moldy slices its ok to throw the others out too
That's a good point! That does help
My parents did this too, but there were times when I could still TASTE mold on the "unaffected" slices. I think with porous foods like bread, the mold spreads through and some of the mold isn't visible and can be throughout the slices even if you don't see it on the surface.
Toss out moldy bread. The whole loaf.
I find peace in long walks.
Eat it, it's better
yep, it’s still a risk.
Ok, but what happens if you do eat moldy food anyway? For me, I always cut mold off of produce, even soft fruits and vegetables like the ones listed in the chart. I know there's a chance there's mold that has reached the rest of it but...
probably go to a doctor about if if you get sick. and then stop doing that
I don't get sick though. And I have a friend who is even more committed to reducing food waste than I am, she regularly eats visible mold on foods and soft foods legit going bad, and she NEVER gets sick (and she's 60 years old)
ok
Most molds are harmless. They just look gross.
Green in small amounts is normally safe when it’s on things like bread.
White and black mold is more commonly dangerous and I’d avoid eating even small amounts of it just to be safe. Every mold is a different type even if the colour is the same, the colour is normally just based on what food or object it’s growing on, black mold sometimes is actually white but dust makes it look dark.
Our immune system sucks at fighting fungal infections so it’s better to safe then sorry just don’t over stress about small amounts of mold on food because everything has mold on it once it’s outside at least mold spores so your body can fight it just not as easily as bacteria or viruses
Breathing in any kind of mold is far more dangerous then eating it.
I don't get sick either. I always pinch off the mold from bread and scrape it off jam and yoghurt, never gotten sick. But I've been doing it for 40+ years, my body might be used to it.
That's... definitely not good
Untrue. It’s literally fine lmao
Maybe I'm just a farm tough immune system but I've never once been sick cutting mold off many of these things, I don't recommend it but cheese of any kind is fine imo, bread molds are penicillin strains typically but I don't mess with it unless it's small spots, overall a pretty cool chart though thanks!
There were also bread molds like ergot that caused people to act crazy and be accused of witchcraft in Salem, MA.
Ergot is the precursor to modern day LSD, and may cause temporary hallucinations but definitely not any permanent insanity (unless you were already a hairtrigger away from losing it in the first place lol). Worst case your bread will make you trip.
Uhh... ergot alkaloids can have vascular effects. That's why they were originally being researched.
I can almost read it.
I'm keeping this one. Thanks.
When I was young I had a friend that worked at McDonald’s. He told me to never eat there because he found mold in a bag of buns, and asked his manager what to do with them. Manager told him to scrape it off.
I’d do this at home but at a restaurant it’s dumb
Found this sub on a random comment and actually found some real useful contents instead of yknow... The other side of Reddit...
How do you know when blue cheese or roquefort is moldy vs just being part of the manufacturing process?
And you know there are some obvious red flags like if it’s fuzzy or if it’s slimy or if it’s a color that doesn’t match the color of the cheese that when you bought it, those are all red flags 🚩 any concerns like at all = When in doubt throw it out!!
But if there’s even a question and you’re just unsure ? 🫤 Just throw it out, cause you can’t tell…
Here’s the sketchy part.. it absolutely could grow a harmful mold that matches the same color and consistency as the strain that’s in cheese appearing like the green-blue mold color that’s the same color that’s in the crumbly part of the blue cheese and it could be a spot growing on the outside that perfectly matches what’s going on inside the part that that’s supposed to be there!
So it’s dicey to think about..
I think from now on personally, if I’m gonna buy blue cheese, I’m definitely going to consume it pretty quickly… and keep a very close eye on it!
Cuz now I’ve made myself super paranoid… I love blue cheese, but I love my health much more!
Ha ha! Good points! I wonder what you consider “very quickly”? Also, I keep my other cheeses wrapped in wax paper and the tend to stay fresh a lot longer.
Thank you! 🙏 that’s an awesome pro tip! Same. I’m gonna do the same… wax paper! 💯 from now on..and yeah I realized even if I get the cheese and consume it pretty rapidly? Who’s to say that it was good coming out of the deli or out of the case? 🤔
Me and cheese 🧀 🤣 I’m the one on the right 😉 😁
That’s a really really really good question! Because just because you have a moldy cheese that’s supposed to have mold like blue cheese for example doesn’t mean that it makes it impervious to other microbial growth, it could grow other harmful molds.. and how would you even be able to tell? It’s worrisome!
Why is this low res?
What do you use to scrub mold off salami? Steel wool?
No, if it says “scrub off”, they mean, cut off and you’re supposed to cut a 1 inch ring around, that’s a rule.. but even then I would advise against it!! It’s dangerous mold kills!
I’m not kidding, I lost a family member to a fungal infection… 😔
Forgot all about this post lol now i know what scrub off means in meats haha
Always
Also if you have raw meat with white furry mold - discard. If you have dry aged steaks then cut away the pellicle and it’s fine as long as the colour is red inside. Pretty sure white mold is ok but blue green or black is no no. Correct me if wrong
What's the point of this image? OP got mold in their eyes?
Okay guys I just ate 5 moldy strawberries with white mold I’ll update you guys
Those who can read this?
No unless if it’s a food whose process involves mold like blue cheese.. but that should only be from the merchant or manufacturer … not overgrowth !! Just because blue cheese has a specific kind of mold, doesn’t mean it can’t grow other more harmful kinds of molds as well, or other harmful microbial growth!
…it’s NEVER consume spoiled food…
Some people say it’s OK to cut away like hard root vegetables that have microbial growth an inch around the area, or hard salami , or hard cheese…but I wouldn’t even chance that!!
There are many people who are sensitive to allergens… and find out the hard way that they are sensitive (from different kinds of allergies to, lung function, G.I. upset the list goes on… I mean you can end up with a systemic infection, or an acute allergic reaction like anaphylaxis… it’s pretty dangerous!)
It’s dangerous.. so when in doubt? Throw it out!
[removed]
i dont want to be rude here. if you want to throw out all moldy food be my guest, i would to. but is your take here really that the usda knows less about food safety then you?
Hard cheeses and fruits ok I can see how you would be able to save them but is it really worth it? Just buy some more food.
to some people it is. to you personally it might not be. plus this isnt "is this valuable information that every single person will want to use in their every day life" subreddit, this is r/moldyinteresting, the subreddit for interesting information and pcitures about mold
You asked tho?
ah. i see. i misinterpreted. from an objective standpoint, yes. it may save you money and time and does not pose any risk to your wellbeing. food safety guidelines are incredibly strict, its not dangerous or harmful if you follow these guidelines. from a subjective standpoint, i wouldnt. were biologically programmed to be wary of and grossed out by mold, and personally my mold ick goes so far that i wouldnt be able to eat something that had ever been moldy even if i can recognize that its objectively safe.
They don’t let that stuff slide in the food industry. Why should I?
Yes they do, lol. You're not aware that the FDA has an acceptable amount of rat feces and insect parts that's allowed to be in grains?
They let contamination slide all the time, otherwise they'd be throwing away thousands of pounds of grain each day, and we'd suffer from extreme supply shortages.
If you're buying food at a store, you're eating that stuff whether you want to or not. Only way around it is growing your own food.
can you provide a source for this please? the source i provided from the usda says its okay. i cannot imagine where restaurants would be getting their guidelines if not from the usda (at least in america). restaurants also may throw this food out out of convenience. they budget for a certain amount of wasted and spoiled food and if theyre keeping up with food safety guidelines mold should rarely if ever be appearing in the first place.
I don’t have a source but it’s common sense. I work in fast food and we date foods and have throw them out long before they would even get moldy. My manager wouldn’t let me cut mold off some food and hand it out to a customer. It’s just common sense.
exactly. the food isnt mouldy to begin with, like i said in my comment. however if you follow the above guidelines if you did get mold, you wouldnt be doing anything wrong or harmful. a restaurant might not follow this, but if they did it would be okay.
If that was the case then we would cut the mold off and use products without dates. It would not be okay whether usada states it or not. The health department wouldn’t be ok with that. They’ve freaked out over less before.
[deleted]
in thelink i posted in the comments
lol i just go by if it doesn’t taste/smell funny it’s fine to eat
The most harmful bacteria don't smell and sometimes food can smell different and be fine to eat. "Smelling funny" and "being bad for you" don't overlap enough to be useful
I have instant ground up coffee jar (Nescafé) that grew little hairs all on the surface but not completely covered white, the expiration is well over a year away but it has been opened already and sat in my cabinet for a year, is it bad?
Not safe to use. Also the dry coffee solids make it extremely easy for the mold spores to (pun not intended, but welcomed) instantly contaminate the entire container. I know I'm a month late, but for future reference black and white molds are generally considered the most likely to be dangerous and even deadly. I personally know someone who died a couple years ago due to extended exposure to black mold in his house.
Yeah I ended up tossing the jar, which was a bummer cause it was like $8
I got food poisoning a couple years ago. I made a small salad with a cucumber and feta cheese. It tasted normal, but both had been in the fridge over a month. I woke up hallucinating, violently vomiting, tried to stand up at some point and blacked out, woke up on the floor awhile later. Lasted about 12 hrs. I'd throw out $8 every hour for the rest of my life to never feel that again. Absolutely should have been in the hospital but I couldn't think rationally in that state. luckily it eventually passed, but I still felt sick for a whole week after.
Tl;Dr Pay attention to what you consume, it might look and taste normal, but if it's something like feta cheese it could be bad and you'll never know it till you feel like you're going to die
Da!
Very helpful - ty!
Bell peppers are considered LOW moisture?
Tell that to my freezer
this is so useful, wish i knew sooner because i’ve eaten so much mold on accident. i’m glad i haven’t gotten sick yet
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
What about fruits such as lychee and rambutan with mold on the exterior husk?
I'm paying about 8USD for 500g of mature cheddar. I ain't cutting an inch off that. Maybe 10mm or so.
these are safety guidelines. if you want to risk mold poisoning thats your business. i do not see why youre telling me
Just a little light hearted banter, on the cost and preciousness of cheese products. Sorry if I misunderstood the intention of your post or this sub.
AH ok sorryi definitely misread ur tone. im just a bit worn out from people sincerely trying to argue with me about safety guidelines :)
Hey. No problem. Text based communication is hard to read context into.
Your original post was really useful. Thank you.
If I see mold, I'm not eating it
its never okay