Having an argument with yourself while ducked into the refrigerator on what you should have for breakfast, lunch, or dinner is a common occurrence if you have a full refrigerator, but something that is just as common is arguing with yourself over what you should do with an item in the fridge that has a little mold growing on it. Mold grows on a lot of things in the fridge, but we do not always know which items are safe to remove the mold from and keep. What do you do if you find something in your refrigerator that has mold on it? Well, it just depends on what the food is that you are talking about.
Mold grows on everything in the fridge eventually and that is just a fact that we have to live with. Food will not keep forever, no matter how well you try to preserve it most of the time. Jars of jellies, jams, marmalades, and preserves are among the worst offenders when it comes to mold growing on them in the fridge. These are items that you should throw away if you discover mold growing inside the jar, because since they are soft items, the “threads” of mold can reach throughout it and contaminate the entire jar. Throw these away.
Fruits and vegetables need to be checked carefully on a regular basis once you get them home and taken out of the plastic bags that you collect them in when you are at the grocery store. Condensation builds up in these bags and will cause mold to grow. One contaminated fruit will cause anything else it is touching to become infected, as well. Throw any contaminated fruits and vegetables away and wash anything it was touching that does not appear to be contaminated.
Anything in your fridge that has a high amount of moisture in it should be discarded after mold is seen growing on it, because it can contaminate the entire item very easily. Dense items like hard salami or blocks of cheese can simply have the moldy areas cut out (as long as it is an inch around and under the molded area) and these will be fine to consume afterward.
Any baked goods such as bread or cake should be discarded if mold is growing on them. These are porous surfaces and can possibly be contaminated beyond the surface.
Soft cheeses, yogurts, casseroles, hot dogs, lunch meat, and etcetera need to be discarded after old is seen growing upon them. These items tend to have a high content of moisture and will probably be contaminated throughout their entire depth.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
