No matter how you store food (unless it’s in the freezer), it always get moldy eventually. How does this happen? Mold is a fungus, and fungi spread through spores, right? So are these mold spores just everywhere all the time, looking for food? If so, then does that mean that mold is on everything we eat, but it’s just not toxic until you can see it? And why does refrigeration slow down this process?
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It gets in because almost nothing in your fridge is perfectly sealed. You’re right, the mold spores are just everywhere. The spores themselves aren’t usually hazardous to humans, but when mold gets to grow for a while, their waste products will build up in whatever they’re growing in, which may be hazardous, but even then not always. Some molds or bacteria alter the flavor of food in a way humans like, and some alter the flavor quite negatively, but doesn’t really cause any severe health effects. However, it’s quite hard to tell what sort of mold species it is you’ve got growing on your food, so maybe you shouldn’t take unnecessary chances.
Refrigeration slows it down because low temperature means chemical and biological reactions slow down. Low temperature means less energy is available, and less energy available means things can’t grow as fast because there’s not enough energy to do the things the cells want to do as fast as they want to do it.
If you want an example of something that *doesn’t* get moldy, look no further than canned foods. These are actually perfectly sealed, and heat treated in such a way that anything that might have been inside the can before it was sealed is killed. No living things inside, no way of living things to get in, and you practically have infinite shelf life as long as the seal isn’t broken.
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