Home Improvement, Remodeling, Toxic Black Mold & Mortgage Refinance Blog

I get a LOT of folks asking if the mold in their refridgerator is the notorious “Toxic Black Mold”.

Well, it may be Black, but I would assume it’s a fungus like Aspergillus or Penecillium!

Opening your refrigerator and finding colonies of fuzzy colors covering your food is all too familiar to many of us. Many are familiar with shoving your leftovers to the back of the fridge, only to find out weeks later that what was once spaghetti has now become an undistinguishable mass of mushy noodles and discolored tomato sauce, covered with green and purple fuzz.
This fuzz of course, is more commonly known as mold. Though there are several types of food molds, typically bluish-green to green molds are usually Penicillium or Aspergillus; black to dark brown molds are usually Cladosporium herbarum, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium sphaerospermum or Stachybotrys chartarum, which is highly toxic.

Lastly, the reddish or pink molds are usually Fusarium species. With a proper growing medium—in this case food—mold can grow anywhere as long as the conditions are livable.

The environment need only be sufficiently moist and warm to provide a home for these fungi.

Like mushrooms, molds reproduce by releasing spores into the air that can land on your food. Soon enough, if enough time passes, they will settle into their new home, creating thin roots called mycelium that spread throughout the food. Once the root is planted, the stalk portion of the mold fungus that appears on the surface of the food begins to produce spores and take its shape in the typical mold we see all too often.

Though there are some foods where mold growth is intentionally induced, such as cheese, most unintentional mold growth that is consumed in significant amounts can have dire consequences, ranging from sickness to diarrhea and even death. Even taking a whiff of a moldy piece of food can be dangerous if you are allergic to mold.

Undesirable molds produce mycotoxins, which are toxins produced by some fungi, though not all. Mycotoxins are produced around the mycelium of the mold, penetrating deeply into the food. Additionally, mycotoxins can survive for long periods of time in food and usually cannot be destroyed through cooking processes. Depending on the type of food, a different mycotoxin may be present.

So the next time you reach into your refrigerator for a piece of bread and find that it’s been overtaken by fuzzy green colonies, think twice about stuffing it into your mouth, even if it’s the last thing in your fridge.

Better safe than sorry folks!

~ Jimmy