THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF MOLD

I know I'm a little behind on my Ask Jim duties. I have a few questions that have been asked but I have not answered. Don't worry, I have not forgotten them and I will get around to them. My goal is to have at least one post a week. Sheena's question is a pretty easy one so we'll bump her up ahead of some of the others.

Sheena writes....

I had some delicious bleu cheese today and was wondering: why is it that some kinds of mold will make you sick (that stuff that grows on bread), while others are edible?




The simple answer is that molds, just like any other classification of plant or animal, have as many differences as similarities. Molds are a fungus, just like mildew, mushrooms, and yeast. As we know from the mushroom family, some are very edible and some are very poisonous.

Each form of life has its own niche. They eat different things. They live in different environments. Bacteria live in our digestive track and help us digest our food, but if those same bacteria get into our bloodstream, they can kill us. What may be poisonous to one animal may be sustenance to another. Sometimes it is not the mold it self that can make us sick, but the toxins it produces.