# Is my cheese safe to eat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464 "2006-03-15T16:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/1 "2006-03-15T16:10:27Z")
Yesterday evening, I obught some pepperjack cheese from the store (the kind with jalepeno.) I left it on the kitchen table. I will get home at about 3 pm. Is it safe to eat? It is the kind that is sealed in plastic. thanks, hh ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/2 "2006-03-15T16:29:37Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Yesterday evening, I obught some pepperjack cheese from the store (the kind with jalepeno.) I left it on the kitchen table. I will get home at about 3 pm. Is it safe to eat? It is the kind that is sealed in plastic. > thanks, > hh Probably – unless you keep the temperature at hothouse levels. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/3 "2006-03-15T16:36:01Z")
I’m sure it’s fine. Yeah, there is a small chance that it’ll make you sick. But that’s a pretty small chance. Real cheese is actually made at room temperature, you know? ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/4 "2006-03-15T16:57:24Z")
It’s safe. The same thing happened to me over the weekend with some opened Humboldt Fog, and I ate it the next day and survived. (The cat may even have licked it during the night.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/5 "2006-03-15T17:07:56Z")
Yes, even if cheese gets a bit of surface mold you can usually trim it off and the cheese will still be fine. If the mold permeates into the block you will know it at first bite and you can just spit it out. I’ve got a wedge of swiss that has been a room temp. for a couple days. It has a much better flavor at room temp. I just keep a piece of Saran wrap over it to prevent it from drying out. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/6 "2006-03-15T18:21:34Z")
Heck, if you get through cheese fairly rapidly and don’t live in a sauna, there’s no need to refrigerate it at all - for hard cheese anyway. I often leave cheddar out on the cheeseboard, covered over of course, and it lasts just fine. Well, until I get the munchies, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/7 "2006-03-15T19:28:33Z")
Cheese keeps pretty well. In fact that’s why cheese was invented. It’s a way of having food for those long camel caravan treks from oasis to oasis. I used to let sharp cheddar get moldy on purpose. Just like bleu cheese. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/8 "2006-03-16T00:06:08Z")
It should be safe. Cheese is a few thousand years older than refrigeration. If it usually got lethal without refrigeration, people wouldn’t have kept eating it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/9 "2006-03-16T02:24:45Z")
I thought this was another oral sex question. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/10 "2006-03-16T13:21:35Z")
Thank you all very much. Following the receipt of this good information, I shall chow down! hh ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/11 "2006-03-16T20:10:05Z")
I always leave my cheese out. I never worry about its spoiling. I never worry about any food spoiling. Hell, people have survived a little bacteria in their food for ages and ages and they have… urk… uh. . a… uh, somebody call 911… uh… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/12 "2006-03-16T20:35:56Z")
> [@A.R. Cane](#): > > Yes, even if cheese gets a bit of surface mold you can usually trim it off and the cheese will still be fine. While this is true, it’s usually a good idea to trim off quite a bit more than you think you need to, because mold will extend below the surface quite a way. And while it probably won’t make you immediately sick if you eat mold, some common household molds produce proteins called aflatoxins, which are among the most potent carcinogens yet discovered. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-cheese-safe-to-eat/348464/13 "2006-03-16T21:44:26Z")
It will be safe unless somebody… _moved_ it.