# White Powder on Cheddar Cheese - Spoiled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863 "2009-09-12T23:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![richgrise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ad7895/32.png) [@richgrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richgrise)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/21 "2012-02-29T18:13:49Z")
What’s the big deal? Cheese is _already_ mold! Ever seen bleu, or smelled limburger? Scrape it off if it’s unsightly, but it very probably won’t pizen you - it’s just the cheddar trying to make more cheddar! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/22 "2012-02-29T18:19:01Z")
Well, I expect that after two and a half years it’s gone beyond being just a little moldy. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/23 "2012-02-29T18:23:49Z")
Cheese comes in packets? _must be another cookie/biscuit thing…_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/24 "2012-02-29T18:48:23Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#): > > One semester I took a medical microbiology class in college. Tony was a great instructor. > > One of his quotes (paraphrased): “By the time you can see the (bacteria/mold/whatever) on the food, it’s already too late. Even small doses of infection can be dangerous.”. [Here’s actual evidence to the contrary.](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2011/08/poison_party.html) Basically, there are two types of way foods go bad: spoilage vs. pathogens. Spoilage smells, looks, and tastes horrible, but it not harmful to eat. Why? Because the evolutionary purpose of the smells and tastes are to keep other creatures from eating the food. The bacteria/mold/whatever can’t survive the digestive tract, so it developed methods to keep from being eatn. Pathogens, on the other hand, need to be eaten to survive. They give no clues to their harmfulness because, from an evolutionary standpoint, it would be counterproductive. Thus the molds are probably not going to make you sick. If you can see them the are warning you to stay away from their food. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/25 "2012-02-29T18:53:34Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > This is a good resource on mold: [http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/molds\_on\_food/index.asp](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/molds_on_food/index.asp), and the answer seems to be that the kind of mold that isn’t bad is the kind that’s used in the manufacturing process. That link says: Hard cheese (not cheese where mold is part of the processing) Use. Cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself so it will not cross-contaminate other parts of the cheese). After trimming off the mold, re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap. Mold generally cannot penetrate deep into the product. Also, I have a degree in microbiology and recall learning that organisms which cause food poisoning do not grow at refrigerator temperatures - food will look, smell and taste awful long before it can poison you. All bets are off if you leave the food on a warming tray for hours or overnight and then refrigerate it, it could be bad by the time it goes in ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/26 "2012-02-29T22:06:07Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Cheese comes in packets? > > _must be another cookie/biscuit thing…_ Cheese comes in packets of various kinds, such as wrapped blocks of cheese (sliced or unsliced) like [this](http://www.chachingonashoestring.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/kraft-cheddar-cheese.jpg), or individually wrapped slices like [this](http://digitalpapercuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Cheese_KraftSingles.jpg), or shredded cheese in resealable packets like [this](http://www.coastgrocery.com/pages/uploads/Products/FoEErvSargentoShreddedCheddar8oz.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863/27 "2012-02-29T23:21:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Cheese comes in packets of various kinds, such as wrapped blocks of cheese (sliced or unsliced) like [this](http://www.chachingonashoestring.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/kraft-cheddar-cheese.jpg), or individually wrapped slices like [this](http://digitalpapercuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Cheese_KraftSingles.jpg), or shredded cheese in resealable packets like [this](http://www.coastgrocery.com/pages/uploads/Products/FoEErvSargentoShreddedCheddar8oz.jpg). If you’ll look again at the very small and very faint tag line in his post, I think you’ll see that he was having a little fun with the word “packet” – in the U.S., “package” is much more common. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-powder-on-cheddar-cheese-spoiled/509863.md?page=1)