Mouldy Food…How Far Is Too Far Gone?

Here at SAHM we love frugal tips to keep the budget down.

But trying to keep the food budget down and stretch out everything to the very end of its life can result in discovering a few types of mould you may never have seen before.

Who am I kidding? We’ve all seen them before, in hot weather, in the bottom of the fruit bowl, in the back of the fridge. But desperation, as in ‘I REALLY want parmey cheese on my pasta”� but the last bit is mouldy’ leaves us in a conundrum. Should you cut off the mould and pretend it was never there or go without this time?

The answer to this age old question is now available. The CSIRO released a report in 2014 to help us work out what mouldy items are safe to eat or not.

What is mould?

Related to our favourite fungi (mushrooms), mould also shares some relations with yeast. Sounds harmless enough, but there are several types of mould which can grow on food. Most commonly you’ll come up against Penicillium, Aspergillus and Botryis the most popular fruit mould.

Over time, they could release poisons into your (mouldy) food and too much exposure to these toxins increases the chance of developing a number of health issues including kidney, liver and immune system damage and increased risk of cancers and neurological symptoms according to the CSIRO report.

So what’s safe and what’s not?

According to the CSIRO, a good rule of thumb is to judge by the moisture content of the food. Foods with high moisture contents are likely to have mould growing below the surface the breeding ground for toxins.

The CSIRO recommends food such as cooked casseroles, soft fruit and veggies, pasta/sauces, soft cheeses, breads and cakes can’t be saved and should be discarded if they are mouldy on the surface.

Foods you can save by simply cutting the mould off include cheddar cheeses, salami and other deli meats and hard vegetables like carrot.

Some cheeses seem to be border line soft and hard and can cause confusion. To be clear, commonly eaten hard cheeses include Babybel, Cheddar, Edam, Feta (hard), Gouda, Halloumi, Havarti, Jarlesberg and Parmesan.

Soft and processed cheeses, which should not be eaten once mouldy include cottage cheese, cream cheese, soft feta, goats cheese, mascarpone, mozzarella, cheese spreads, quark and ricotta.

More food safety tips from the CSIRO

1) ‘Use By’ date means if you haven’t eaten it by then toss out, even if unopened.

2) ‘Best before’ date advices the period which the food is in peak condition, and is only applied to food with low risk for food poisoning.

3) Your fridge should be set below 5 degrees Celsius

4) Avoid overloading the fridge as food prefers cool air circulating around it.

5) Do not buy swollen chilled food packages. This indicates bacteria have grown in the food.

How often have you served up mouldy food after cutting off the offending mould?

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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