Moldy Bread

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circlew

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Yuck! I just started to eat a piece of bread that I bought a few days ago at Kroger, and it had a spot of mold on it. I spit the rest of it out, and drank a couple cups of water. It wasn't cheap either - Pepperidge Farm Butter Bread. The sell by date says Aug. 15th; I purchased it late on the 7th, and opened it the next day. I'm taking it back to the store in a little while.

I've been hearing others say that food is going bad quickly lately. Not only bread, but potatoes, onions, and other fresh vegetables. Anyone else noticed this?
 
Tom

In warmer weather, especially if its humid bread will get mold on it soon after opening the package unless you put it in the refrigerator. I bake all of our bread, so I know its fresh and I prefer keeping it at room temp because oddly it doesn’t get stale as quickly. But after about the 3rd day if its warm and humid I’ll put the remainder of the loaf in the fridge.

And yes, I’ve also noticed that somethings seem to spoil more quickly, like potatoes and onions as you said. But part of this I attribute to keeping them in our storage shed and once again its the summer heat that is making them spoil quicker. The rest of the year our shed is like one of those old fashioned coolers that used to be built into the kitchen cabinets in the days before refrigerators.

Other fresh vegetables haven’t been at top freshness in my opinion for years now. I can’t tell you many times I’ve bought fresh green beans, put them in the fridge and 4 days later found them molding and slimy, and at $3.99 a lb! Now I only buy fresh green beans for holiday's and then only the day before I’m gonna serve them.

Eddie
 
Interesting.

 

I bought some P Farm butter bread last Christmas for kids who are not a fan of my rye and french bread. It didn't really get touched much and I put it in the garage fridge (not freezer).  Occasionally over the winter if I was out of bread I'd grab a slice or two and it lasted until July! No mold, perfectly fine to eat. I was a little concerned about the amount of preservatives they must use but I only ate a couple of slices now and then. I did buy another loaf last week as I wasn't in the mood to  bake bread.

 

When bread get slightly moldy I just trim it off and have no issue with it.
 
Ummm...

I'm of the opinion that if there's even one small spot of mold on a loaf of bread, I toss the entire loaf.

Why?

Well, such mold can sent out tendrils through the bread (or other food) that you can't see, but they are still mold. IDK, I live in a compartively cool climate most of the year. Plus I haven't bought a loaf of bread for a few years now. In fact I've got a loaf of some sort of bread in the patio freezer that is probably at least five years old and might have to be tossed.

I prefer pasta, rice, etc.
 
Well, customer service was closed by the time we (neighbor kid and I) got to store, so will have to go tomorrow.

I don't want to eat anything with mold in it. I've also heard what Rich mentioned above.

I've heard a lot of people in my area complaining about Kroger lately, especially as to items being past the best by or use by date. It also seems like they're out of something every visit anymore. I wanted a couple one gallon jugs of purified water, but they were out again, so will have to go to Target for them. Their produce is lousy too, compared to Meijer.
 
I’d never throw a whole loaf of bread away for a little spot of mold. I’d just cut away the bad spot. I’m still here and healthy.

There are many times throughout history that if people threw away bread with a little mold on it they’d have starved to death for the lack of anything else to eat.

But everyones got different limits.

Eddie
 
OK, I can back it up...

"Is It Safe To Eat Moldy Bread?

""We don't recommend cutting mold off of bread, because it's a soft food," says Marianne Gravely, a senior technical information specialist for the United States Department of Agriculture. "With soft food, it's very easy for the roots [of the mold], or the tentacles, or whatever creepy word you want to use, to penetrate" deeper into the food.

"Molds, which look like mini-mushrooms under a microscope, are actually a type of fungi, with visible spores on the surface and a network of microscopic roots that twist deep below that are often invisible to the naked eye. So a mold's penetration into a piece of bread may be greater than a quick look-over suggests, says Gravely.

"You might have slightly more leeway when it comes to sliced bread in a bag: If after careful inspection of the interior and exterior of the bread on a long loaf, you can tell one end is unaffected, keep it, Gravely says. But otherwise, it should be tossed — the fact that bread is sliced is no guarantor that mold hasn't spread.

""I have seen mold spread from one slice to the next," she says."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/21/523647669/is-it-safe-to-eat-moldy-bread
 
Rich,
I also recently read this same article. It hasn’t really changed my mind. It depends upon how much mold there is. Of course if theres a lot and its spread to more than two slices I may get rid of the rest of it. To me its not that scary with everything else there is to be worried about.

Eddie
 
Weather has been quite moist for most parts of USA this summer, that can contribute to baked goods going moldy rather sooner than they should. Keeping in mind much store bought bread in plastic bags contains quite a lot of preservatives that's saying something.

For many types of bread if not going to be consumed at once, best chuck loaf into freezer, then take out slices as needed.

Unless having sandwiches for dinner or for a crowd we only have odd bread slices for toast in morning. Thus a loaf can last a long time and usually will go moldy before entirely eaten, so into freezer it goes.
 
Been there, had that--I don't feel bad giving it to the bids eat, as much as I'd feel worse just throwing it away...

Unless the freezer is over crowded with my deluge of ice cream that I compulsively buy each time a new flavour or a LOT of new flavours come out, and revisit those old favourites or buy what I feel sorry for ones that no one else does, I make the freezer the best place to store my bread--I always toast it anyway, and it keeps fresh way past its date, the only downside is it often sticks together, or might get mishapened or deformed...

-- Dave
 
As some of you may know my maternal grandma worked for a lot of US military families after the war well into the 1960s.
She said almost all of them had their bread and coffee grounds stored in the icebox or refrigerator if they had one.
I`m not sure if storing bread refrigerated is really so common in the US but I`ve been doing so since I moved out into my first apartment. Cold bread doesn`t taste good so this might explain why neither my grandma nor my mother picked up the idea but I like to slightly toast all bread anyway, even rye bred or pumpernickel so no issues here.
Packaged sliced bread doesn`t seem to have a lot of preservatives in Germany if any, so once opened it spoils quickly.
In the refrigerator it keeps at least one week past the best before date even when opened.
Coffee grounds seem to keep their flavor longer. I think grandma always had a jar of instant coffee in the fridge but not the grounds.
I would never eat anything with mold on it apart from blue cheese.
They say there are very few exceptions where cutting of the mold generously is ok like on jam due to the high sugar content or hard cheese where the spores can`t spread easily too. Wouldn`t take the risk either.
 
Wish I could steer away from store bought bread, too--Hillbilly has gone from that glorious $1.69 to about $2.69 in a mere five years--so just that one-dollar for the same-sized loaf would make anything bakery bread if I could find such truly an asset to me...

 

 

-- Dave
 
80-90% of the time I make my own bread, nice boule of sourdough rye or a country french. Don't really care that much for a pan bread. I prefer a slightly crusty bread.  In addition to the sourdough I add sour salt to the rye and it can last quite a while on the counter with he addition of the acidic sour salt. If it gets a bit of mold, it's trimmed, if it's partially covered it gets tossed.

 

Growing up we never worried about a bit  of mold on the bread just trimmed it off. I thing the current generation has gotten into the toss it mode, a day past sell by date and perfectly fine food is in the trash. I'm fully capable of deciding if something is bad, the only time I've suffered from food poisoning was from KCF coleslaw. I've come to believe that exposure to some microbes and mold helps our immune system,  my dad and older aunts left food out all the time and never had an issue. I'm more careful than they were but I'm not obsessive.
 
Re: Reply#16

I agree Matt. I spend a lot of time baking our bread. If a tiny bit of mold get onto a slice, which is seldom, I toss that slice, not the rest of the loaf. I just then put the rest of the loaf in the fridge to arrest any further mold formation.

For crying out loud. There are lot of people that are squeamish as all hell about a bit of moldy bread but may think nothing of engaging in intimate contact with a total stranger that could result in way more health problems than a loaf of moldy bread.

You’re right about some exposure to our systems with microbes and mold can actually strengthen the immune system.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 8/14/2022-19:26]
 
Bread has been returned to the store, and a full refund made.

I bought that bread because I enjoy eating good bread, and this didn't meet that description. The mold was in several parts of that loaf; I suppose if I was starving I could have eaten it, but in this case I wouldn't have found it very pleasant.
 
Tom,

I completely understand your being dissatisfied with opening a loaf of bread just purchased and finding it molded. I’d return it too! When I say I wouldn't toss the rest of a loaf I’m operating under the assumption that either I’d baked the bread myself or it was a loaf I’d purchased and had for a few days.

But absolutely a freshly purchased loaf should be fresh and free of mold when opened after purchase, and returned if not.

I meant no offense.

Eddie
 
The problem is that bread mold is somewhat toxic. Perhaps a lot toxic.

Whereas mold on stuff like cheese can simply be cut away with not health issues.

I learned about the dangers of moldy bread in my teens. No thanks.

And with "all that's going on", why add bread mold to your risk level?

Again, if it's a long loaf, and the mold is only at one end, then possibly you could eat some from the other end. However, you cannot usually see the nearly invisible mold tendrils that invade the loaf. Why take that risk?
 
Rich,
I totally respect you viewpoint on mold and bread. You have to do what you feel is right for you. I even happen to be allergic to mold and received bi-weekly allergy shots for mold and several other allergies from ‘91 thru ‘19. I can honestly say that I’ve never to my knowledge become ill from eating bread that came from a loaf that had a little mold on part of it.

Of course if a loaf of bread had a lot of mold I’d toss the whole thing, as common sense would dictate. But one slice and the rest is clean and smells and tastes fresh, I’ll take the chance.

Maybe thats the extent of my life's walk on the wild side, LOL.

Eddie
 
My sister tried to remove mould from a loaf of bread to enjoy peanut butter sandwiches but more and more mould would appear—that being the only bread in the house had been all but a case for child protective services…

Sad, what renders something good and nutritious like bread inedible… Maybe I need to consider making my own… I have flour and yeast…

— Dave
 
AFAIK mold on food can be anything from absolutely harmless to quite dangerous because of the toxins some kinds of molds produce when they metabolize the food.
The problem is you can never tell what kind of mold you`re dealing with and some of the toxins might give you nasty diseases like liver or kidney failure or cancer if you consume them again and again.

I`m not a believer but wasting food I consider a sin, even more so if an animal has been exploited producing the food. So I don`t stock up more than I can use up.
But if anything has spoilt which rarely happens I also have no problem to toss it.
 
Well, like I said, mold on stuff like cheese, especially if it's aged with mold, is said to be relatively harmless. And at present I forget which cheeses come with a mold wrapper. LOL.

Mold on bread, nope, not good.

When I was in college, there was a course called "Molds and Man". I never took it, but now I wish I had.

Then there are the "Moldy Oldies", but that a whole nother kettle of fish (old pop music, mostly).
 
My brother, who worked for the Dutch health authorities always warned for the dangers of moulds. Some worse than others. Since then I always kept bread in the freezer and take out what I need.

Make sure the slices are separated from eachother and put it on it's bottom so the slices don't get pressed together. In that way chances are smaller than they will stick together. When thawed it tastes as fresh as when it was frozen.

Keeping bread in the fridge is not a great idea. It may keep longer but it's taste is also affected and it may even dry out. That will not happen when you freeze it.
 
When I buy a loaf of sliced bread, I will put a few slices in a Ziploc for immediate use then put the rest in the freezer.

My background is clinical lab science and I have taken a lot of microbiology. I never wanted to chance eating moldy bread so would throw the whole loaf away if I observed any mold. I am even more careful now due to receiving chemotherapy. (I love blue cheese, brie, smoked fish and those are all off limits to me now for the time being.)

Bob
 
In my house,

Everybody has a different Bread because that’s what they like, with me I buy a full load and then slice it up (slices are barely thin enough to fit into the white slots of my Sunbeam automated toaster) if I’m not making toast within the next 15 minutes after slicing up the bread into the freezer the entire loaf goes
 

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