After battling the endless queues and securing your weekly groceries, it’s unlikely anything will drag you back to the supermarket before the week is out. Not even discovering a mouldy slice in your fresh loaf of bread might be enough to prompt a return trip.
You’d probably just discard the offending piece and carry on with the rest of the loaf as the days pass. But Dr Karan Raj has issued a stark warning on his TikTok account, stating that “there is no such thing as the clean part of mouldy bread”.
Alarmingly, what may appear as “harmless” mould could actually be “lethal” for your health, reports the Express. Dr Raj explained the visible mould is merely “the crown jewels” of a more extensive issue.
The reproductive parts of mould, known as sporangium, release thousands of spores that spread far and wide. In his video, Dr Raj said: “And if you’re seeing these, then you are definitely not seeing the hidden roots.”
This indicates that simply removing one mouldy slice does not render the bread safe for consumption. Dr Raj advises that the entire loaf should be discarded to ensure safety.
While certain moulds are edible – like those in blue cheese and some antibiotics – others pose significant health risks. Dr Raj explained: “There are thousands of different types of mould. Some probably harmless, some not so good like Rhizopus stolonifer.”
The doctor further described Rhizopus stolonifer as the common mould found on food items such as bread. “It is almost impossible to tell whether a mould is harmless or not simply by looking at it, because some of them can produce pretty naughty mycotoxins that can be lethal,” he cautioned.
Additionally, he warned that even toasting your bread won’t eliminate these harmful mycotoxins. “So, just throw the whole damn mouldy thing away, please,” Dr Raj insisted.