Do you know what happens if you accidentally eat mould?
Moulds are microscopic fungi that live on plant or animal matter. Mould grows from tiny spores that float around in the air. When some of these spores fall onto a piece of damp food, they grow into mould. There are thousands of different kinds of moulds. The mould that grows on lemons looks like a blue-green powder, the one that grows on strawberries is a greyish-white kind-of-fur and a common mould that grows on bread looks like white cottony fuzz at first, which could turn black after a few days.
Sometimes, without even noticing, we consume a mouldy bread, fruit, or cheese slice. After reading this, an image of you eating the aforementioned mouldy items is sure to pop in your mind. Is the image worrying you? Are you wondering what happens if you eat mould? Is it deadly?
Effects of eating mould
The short answer to the above-mentioned questions is no, you are probably not going to die from eating mould. You will digest it like any other food. As long as you have got a relatively healthy immune system, the most you will experience is some nausea or vomiting due to the taste or idea of what you have just eaten.
But if you are allergic to mould, it can bring on uncomfortable symptoms including irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. Also, although common bread mould isn't especially harmful, there are some dangerous moulds which can be harmful to your health and cause food poisoning.
Can you cut the mould off your food?
Although it might be tempting to simply tear off the mouldy bits in the interest of not wasting food or money, there is no guarantee you are actually removing the whole fungus by doing so. The thread-like roots of mould can reach deep into the food, so simply removing the mouldy parts won't help. Thus, it is better to just toss the whole thing out.
How can you prevent mould from forming?
Simple steps to avoid mould formation include securely covering foods in the fridge with plastic wrap or containers, eating leftovers within four days, and not leaving perishable food out for more than two hours. Apart from these, you need to keep a check on how much food you eat during the week. If you live alone, there is no point in buying a whole lot of food in one go and throwing it away later because of mould.