Testimony from Paula Teixeira, researcher at the Center for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry.
Food safety issues are a hot topic on social media. A video shared on TikTok shows a hard cheese that was “forgotten” and became moldy. However, the author of the post doesn't consider throwing it away. With a knife, she removes only the visible mold.
Another TikTok user “responds” to this video and warns of the supposed dangers of the practice demonstrated. She claims that in order to be safe to eat the cheese, you need to cut between 2 and 3 centimeters beyond the visible mold. If this is not possible, it is best to discard the food. After all, what should you do in this situation: cut the mold off the cheese and only then eat it or throw it away?
Is it safe to eat hard cheese after cutting off a moldy piece?
First of all, it's important to distinguish between two types of cheese. Speaking to Viral, Paula Teixeira, a professor and researcher in the area of food safety at the School of Biotechnology at the Catholic University of Porto (UCP), explains that there are cheeses that “are made with selected molds and under controlled production conditions” which, “if all good practices are followed”, are safe to eat.
