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Moldy Food and Your Health

  How many times have you opened up your fridge to find mold has grown on your food? Every year, the average family throws away hundreds of dollars in "spoiled" food due to mold. The average commercial kitchen can throw away thousands of dollars a year. One way to avoid molds in your refrigerator is to treat your produce gently, Molds love bruises.    Food Molds    The bluish-green molds that grow on breads and on acidic fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, for example, belong to the Penicillium family. Some penicilliums can produce unsavory mycotoxins like ochratoxin , but many others seem to be benign. Some of these molds produce toxic chemicals, known as mycotoxins . The same goes for the molds that will form on cheeses. Most of the toxins they produce are unstable or can be removed by trimming. The bottom line is that if you carefully trim away mold on firm fruits and vegetables and hard cheeses, and if you throw away soft foods and dairy products with any mold on