So some cheeses seem to be toxic for you if you eat them when they have mold on them, while others are mainly being consumed when they get moldy. Why is it so that some types of cheese will make you sick, while you can eat others without a problem?
In: Chemistry
It’s the milk, from which cheese is made that can be a problem. Raw (unpasteurized) milk can carry Listeria, Brucella, Salmonella and other seriously bad bacteria. Pasteurizing the milk kills those germs. Any cheese made from unpasteurized milk might be risky, visible mold or not.
Mold that grows on cheese usually is not toxic. Blue mold is usually from the Penicillum family (penicillin was the very first antibiotic used on humans). Some molds and bacteria are used to make and/or flavor cheese. For instance, Camembert and Brie uses Penicillum camberti (a bacteria, not a mold) and often they have a coating of white surface molds that is harmless and many find it yummy.
Rules of thumb. Crumbled or soft cheese (Gouda is a semi-soft cheese) that shows abnormal mold (blue mold on blue cheese is just fine) should be tossed. Mold on hard cheeses should be cut away, about 1” deep and 1” all around. Mold has trouble growing deep into hard cheese, but easily into soft or semi-soft cheese. Black mold on any cheese should be tossed for it could be Aspergillus niger, a toxic mold.
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