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Here's why mold grows on food, what happens when you eat it, and tips to keep food mold-free. What is mold? Molds are microscopic fungi, Josephine Wee, Ph.D., an assistant professor of food ...
Molds with mycotoxins, or toxic substances, are the most harmful. "They can cause severe illness if ingested in large doses or over time," Gavin says. Gavin says these include:
A number of these produce mycotoxins (soluble, non-volatile toxins produced by a range of microfungi that demonstrate specific and potent toxic properties on human and animal cells [57]) that can render foods unfit for consumption. When ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through skin, mycotoxins may cause or contribute to a range of effects from ...
The molds can colonize and contaminate food before harvest or during storage, especially following prolonged exposure to a high-humidity environment, or to stressful conditions such as drought. Aflatoxin contamination is increasing in crops such as maize as a result of climate change creating better conditions for these molds.
Molds are a group of microscopic fungi, and there may be hundreds of thousands of different types, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They typically grow on plant or animal matter ...
The mold lives in soil, surviving off dead plant and animal matter, but spreads through the air via airborne conidia. [24] This fungus grows in long branched hyphae and is capable of surviving on numerous food sources including corn and peanuts. [25] The fungus and its products are pathogenic to a number of species, including humans. [24]
Molds can also grow on stored food for animals and humans, making the food unpalatable or toxic and are thus a major source of food losses and illness. [11] Many strategies for food preservation (salting, pickling, jams, bottling, freezing, drying) are to prevent or slow mold growth as well as the growth of other microbes.
Mold illness isn’t easy to define, and the path from home mold growth to debilitating chronic health symptoms is complicated. But often the story starts like this: Moisture in a home can cause ...