Some people are very brave when it comes to the moldy part of your food. Many people will just remove the moldy part and continue eating the “clean” portion of their food. This widely pertains to bread, as when left out over time, it can become stale and begin to show green, moldy growths.
According to research, you may not be out of the woods just by removing the moldy piece of your bread or other food items. In fact, the mold is a deep-reaching agent, meaning that once it affects part of your food, it affects the entire thing even if it’s not visible to the human eye. By eating the seemingly “clean” part of the food, you run the risk of falling incredibly ill.
Let’s say you have a bag of bread sitting on your counter. You notice one of the slices is beginning to grow mold, but the other slices look just fine. Stop right there! Even though the other slices appear to be unphased by the mold growing on that one piece of bread, a mold infestation is growing from within. Mold spores are released into the air of the bag, infecting all the other slices.
While some molds are good, others (especially the molds found on food) are extremely dangerous and, if consumed, can cause an infection in the body that could be fatal. You should also never consume a part of the piece of bread you found the mold on, even if it looks “clean.”
There are several different kinds of molds that can be found on different kinds of food. Some of the most commons molds are Alternaria, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Monilia, Manoscus, Mortierella, Mucor, Neurospora, Oidium, Oosproa, Penicillium, Rhizopus, and Thamnidium.
The USDA touches on how mold exists on more than just the surface of the food. “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.”
In conclusion, the “clean” part of a moldy loaf of bread (or other food groups) still deems the food off limits for eating. The mold essentially takes over the entire food item rendering it inedible. You may get sick, you may not get sick. But, if you decide to eat the ‘clean’ part of your food that otherwise has some mold on it, you run the risk of getting sick no matter what. There’s always a possibility.
Be sure to discard any moldy foods you may come in contact with and stay safe.
Be sure to SHARE this article to spread awareness about the “clean” part of moldy foods! Don’t forget to check out this animated educational video on the truth about the ‘clean’ part of moldy food below.