Can You Eat Moldy Cheese? (2024)

FAQs

Can You Eat Moldy Cheese? ›

If cheese has mold growing on it, should I throw it away? Answer From Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. Soft cheeses, such as cottage cheese, cream cheese and ricotta, with mold should be discarded. The same goes for any kind of cheese that's shredded, crumbled or sliced.

Discard any soft cheese showing mold. For hard cheese, such as Cheddar, cut off at least 1-inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself). After trimming off the mold, the remaining cheese should be safe to eat. Re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap and keep refrigerated.

Illness often starts in about 1 to 3 days. But symptoms can start any time from 30 minutes to 3 weeks after eating contaminated food. The length of time depends on the type of bacteria or virus causing the illness. Each person's symptoms may vary.

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 FIRM fruits and vegetables with low moisture content. It's difficult for mold to penetrate dense foods.

If someone were to consume a large amount of mold, they might experience nausea, indigestion, cramping and possibly diarrhea, Lee said. But these symptoms are not inherently a bad thing, she explained. "It's your body's protective mechanism kicking in and trying to get rid of the agent out of your body."

source Program (FARRP), no evidence exists that moldy cheeses are potentially harmful to mold-allergic individuals. Consumers with mold allergy generally are responding to the inhalation of mold spores. On the other hand, ingestion of moldy cheeses generally involves the ingestion of mycelia, not spores.

If you're not sure what type of cheese you have or what to do if it grows mold, the safe course is to discard it.

If you do feel ill after consuming cheese that you suspect was spoiled, please seek medical attention immediately. When in doubt, throw it out. No cheese is worth jeopardizing your health.

The blue cheese molds - Penicillium roqueforti - is safe for human consumption. It does not produce the same toxins as dangerous molds. Rather, it can be quite healthy, with natural antibacterial properties and the ability to over-take pathogens.

However, there's a big difference between properly aged cheese and cheese that has expired; here's how to tell the difference and protect your health. Like any expired food, eating cheese that has gone back can cause food poisoning and/or other gastrointestinal issues.

Why does my cheese smell bad but it's not expired? ›

With repeated washings, the cheese will develop certain flavors and smells. Additionally, the washed rind cheeses are perfect for microbes. The bacteria and yeast colonize the cheese rind resulting in a distinctive scent.

Consuming moldy food can cause allergic reactions, as well as respiratory problems. When you find a few moldy pieces of fruit inside a container, throw out the moldy fruit and any pieces of fruit that are directly touching them.

It is okay to cut mold off of hard cheeses and hard fruits or vegetables like apples, potatoes, onions or cauliflower. Just be sure to cut away at least 1 inch as surface mold is more than what you see. It actually has hyphae or roots which can penetrate deeper into the food.

Whether the loaf of bread has one spot of visible mold or multiple ones, the bread is unsafe to eat. According to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, when you see molds growing on bread, it is likely that the root of the mold has infiltrated much of the loaf, no matter if the loaf is whole or sliced.

One common cause is too much moisture when the cheese is being stored. The use of plastic wrapping or zip top bags can retain too much moisture. When you consider this, which container would you choose instead for your cheese? The other common cause of moldy cheese is inconsistent temperatures in refrigeration.

When the cheese is starting to show mold is means the mold is already inside the other parts of the cheese as well. Same with bread. Don't eat moldy bread, cheese, fruit, or anything really.

Thread mould is a defect which occurs sporadically in maturing vacuum packaged Cheddar cheese, caused by the growth of fungi in folds and wrinkles of the plastic film in which the cheese is packaged. Fungi were isolated and identified from 110 Cheddar cheese blocks exhibiting typical thread mould defects.

So long as you still like the taste, the cheese is fine. Just be aware that the flavor will intensify on most cheeses over time. If the small bite of cheese makes your tongue, lips or cheek tingle or burn, the cheese is bad (even if it passed the look and smell tests).