What Molded Foods to Discard

Knowing what kind of food in your refrigerator that has become moldy that you should throw away can sometimes be a difficult task, especially if you do not understand what kinds of foods are affected by mold the most severely. If people would keep their refrigerators cleaned out more often, there might be less instances of mold growth in them, but mold growing in the refrigerator on some food every once in a while is fairly unavoidable. Sometimes we leave things in the fridge for too long because we forget they are there or possibly we just put off eating that particular item until it becomes moldy and it is too late to save. So, what kinds of foods can be saved if they become contaminated by mold?

Fruits and vegetables can become moldy if you leave them in the refrigerator long enough and especially if there is a bad one among them that does not get thrown out. Leaving a bad fruit or vegetable near healthy ones will inevitably cause the others to go bad in a relatively short period of time. Most molded fruits and vegetables cannot be saved because these items are porous and generally have a high content of moisture.

Other foods that contain a high moisture content such as jams, jellies, and etcetera should also be thrown out if you find mold growing on them or even just on the inner surface on the lid of the jar. The mold will contaminate the entire jar, because they are not dense foods.

Foods like cakes, cookies, breads, and other baked goods should also be thrown away because of their porous, non-dense nature. We all know that breads can become moldy and most of us throw them away and this logic is usually applied to everything else baked in the oven.

Foods like blocks of cheese and hard salami, however, can usually be saved even if they become contaminated with mold. Simply take a knife and cut around the molded area by about one inch and cut one inch underneath. Throw the molded piece away. Unfortunately, individually sliced cheeses that become moldy cannot be treated in this manner because they are moist enough that the mold “roots” will contaminate the whole slice and even possibly the entire pack. Just throw them away.

Let’s review. Items that contain a lot of moisture such as cream cheese, sour cream, and etcetera should be thrown away. Foods that are also very porous like baked goods should also be thrown out. Dense foods like blocks of cheese and hard salami can be saved.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and
flood and water damage cleanup companies across the united states.