Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren bog obam Here, it's happened to all of us.
Speaker 1: That fresh peach you were so excited to eat is
Speaker 1: suddenly sporting a dime sized growth of fuzzy white stuff.
Speaker 1: Or your last couple of slices of sandwich bread have
Speaker 1: sprouted a few tiny flecks of green? Is it safe
Speaker 1: to just trim off the unappealing area and consume the rest.
Speaker 1: Mold on the surface of food usually appears as a
Speaker 1: green or white area, often fuzzy and texture. It can
Speaker 1: be widespread or appear to be isolated on just one section,
Speaker 1: and while it may look like the growth is only
Speaker 1: on the surface, mold is a fungus with a structure
Speaker 1: similar to a plant, roots, a stock, and spores. The roots,
Speaker 1: often invisible to the naked eye, can grow quite deep.
Speaker 1: The stock and spores are what you see on the surface,
Speaker 1: and the spores can go airborne, which can cause the
Speaker 1: mold to spread on the current object or contaminate neighboring foods.
Speaker 1: You've heard the expression in one bad apple spoils the barrel. Often,
Speaker 1: if mold develops on one piece of food, it quickly
Speaker 1: spreads to other nearby food. Not all molds are bad,
Speaker 1: and some are normal and even desirable. Some cheeses, such
Speaker 1: as roquefort, are speckled with characteristic blue green veins. To
Speaker 1: achieve this quality, cheesemakers introduce a friendly, edible type of
Speaker 1: mold during the manufacturing process. The resulting cheeses are perfectly
Speaker 1: safe to eat, uniquely creamy and very popular, although admittedly
Speaker 1: boast a funky and acquired taste. But other molds can
Speaker 1: cause problems. Some cause allergic reactions or induce respiratory distress,
Speaker 1: which is why you shouldn't sniff at a moldy product.
Speaker 1: And some molds produce poisonous substances called mycotoxins, which can
Speaker 1: cause serious illness. So what about that tasty peach you
Speaker 1: were looking forward to. Because of its soft texture and
Speaker 1: high moisture content, it's likely that further invisible contamination exists
Speaker 1: beyond just the surface. It's safer to send that item
Speaker 1: to the compost bin than risk illness. For complete guidelines
Speaker 1: on what foods are safe and aren't based on current research,
Speaker 1: it's best to check with your government's food safety education resources.
Speaker 1: For example, the United States Department of Agricultures. Food Safety
Speaker 1: and Inspection Service has a great guide at f s
Speaker 1: i S dot USDA dot gov. But here's a starter
Speaker 1: guide on which moldy foods to toss and which to trim,
Speaker 1: because while not all moldy foods are a total loss,
Speaker 1: some should be skipped. Foods that are soft and moist
Speaker 1: are the most likely to be dangerous because the mold
Speaker 1: may be growing deeper into the product than it appears.
Speaker 1: So if you see mold on the following tassum lunch meats, bacon,
Speaker 1: hot dogs, cooked casseroles, cooked grains or pasta, breads and
Speaker 1: other baked goods, soft fruits and vegetables like a cucumbers,
Speaker 1: tomatoes or berries, jams and jellies, peanut butter, other lagoons
Speaker 1: like beans, nuts, soft cheeses, yogurt, and sour cream. Some
Speaker 1: of these, particularly grain based products and certain produce tend
Speaker 1: to harbor molds that are particularly insidious because, as byproducts
Speaker 1: of liveing, they produce those mico toxins, which are poisonous.
Speaker 1: They can give you a really bad day or even
Speaker 1: contribute to diseases like cancer. While moldy cold cuts and
Speaker 1: lunch meats should be discarded hard salami and dry cured
Speaker 1: ham are an exception. For these items, you can safely
Speaker 1: scrub the surface, removing the mold completely. For hard cheeses
Speaker 1: and hard fruits and vegetables like cabbage, carrots, and bell peppers,
Speaker 1: the food can be consumed after you trim away the mold.
Speaker 1: Be sure to trim at least an itch that's about
Speaker 1: two and a half centimeters around the offending area, and
Speaker 1: take care to avoid letting the knife make contact with
Speaker 1: the mold. If it does, stop and wash it with
Speaker 1: hot soap and water to avoid cross contamination. It may
Speaker 1: be disappointing to toss out whole products, but it's always
Speaker 1: better to err on the side of caution. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Debbie Swanson and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other fresh topics,
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