Why Mold On Cheese Isn't A Bad Thing

8/31/2018 (Permalink)

As a general rule of thumb, mold on your food is not a good sign. On fresh foods mold is an indicator that they may no longer be fresh.  Not only does mold on our food make it look unappetizing but also can change the texture and smell the food gives off. 

Cheese is one food that mold isn’t necessarily a bad thing. According to the Mayo Clinic, harmful bacteria can grow along with mold on foods. However, mold can’t generally penetrate that far into hard and semi soft cheese.  So, when eating Cheddar, Colby, Swiss for example you can cut away the molded parts and eat the rest.

This leads us to blue cheese and why in this case it’s okay to eat.  While there are dangerous molds that produce mycotoxins as well as aflatoxins, that can affect our respiratory systems.  However, these are not the types of molds used for cheese.  Blue molds that are used for cheeses cannot produce these toxins in cheese.