I recently ate a jerky with white mold on it (see below), I donot know if I should be okay with that? The mold grew on jerky because I placed it in a moist environment days before.
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3If you haven't noticed any I'll effects after a few days, you probably got away with it, but don't eat any more! Throw it out.– ElendilTheTallMar 26, 2015 at 7:06
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2It is fine to eat, just cut it off if you are unsure. Same rules apply here as moldy cheese, cut that part off and move on. White mold is common in charcuterie, and preyed for by artisan charcuterie and cheese craftsman. The white bloom is a sign to the craftsman that fermentation has started properly. This is purposefully done by spraying a little moisture on the outside of the sausage casing. You most likely had condensation build up that seeded this occurrence.– Chef_CodeMar 26, 2015 at 20:25
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1Unofficially, I tend to agree with Chef_Code. Who's momma didn't scrape mold of off food and tell you to eat it. That said, my official answer would be ask the government (see Jefromi below)– DerpyMar 27, 2015 at 1:52
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@Chee'sBurgers Thank you guys, I am functioning well till now, my best guess is that the white mold is not the evilest one, eat a little bit of it may not dysfunction me, but not too much😄.– wayneMar 27, 2015 at 2:11
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@Chef_Code Thank you guys, I am functioning well till now, my best guess is that the white mold is not the evilest one, eat a little bit of it may not dysfunction me, but not too much.– wayneMar 27, 2015 at 2:12
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2 Answers
There are some kinds of mold which are safe to consume (blue cheese is a common example) but in general they are not. While you might often be fine eating a bit, there's no guarantee, so to be safe you should throw out moldy food like your jerky.
See the FDA's advice, for example.
Note that mold is okay on some kinds of cured meats:
Hard salami and dry-cured country hams: Use. Scrub mold off surface. It is normal for these shelf-stable products to have surface mold.
But I'm not sure it's normal for jerky. For those examples it's normal and even common to have mold, but for jerky it's not common, so I wouldn't be confident it's normal. (Indeed, it grew there when you left it somewhere moist, so it's not part of the normal production and storage of jerky.) Additionally, jerky is generally more fibrous and less solid than those things, so there's more potential for mold to grow inside it, where you wouldn't be able to scrub it off.
Your example does look like it's mostly on the surface though, so if you want to take a small chance, you could see if you can really scrub it all off.
answered Mar 26, 2015 at 19:24
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The FDA page you linked doesn't mention jerky, but it does say for "Hard salami and dry-cured country hams - Use. Scrub mold off surface. - It is normal for these shelf-stable products to have surface mold." I would think that would apply to jerky as well. May 26, 2016 at 17:04
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@RichardVenable I don't know if it's normal for jerky (I've never seen it on anything storebought anyway) but more importantly, jerky doesn't have a smooth surface to scrub off. It's very fibrous, with a lot of surface inside that mold could grow on and not be reachable to scrub. Maybe the OP's example is still okay, since it does look mostly on the actual surface. In general though I'd be pretty nervous.– Cascabel ♦May 26, 2016 at 17:17
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@RichardVenable There are specific types of mold which grow on hard aged sausages (in fact, they're often deliberately inoculated with them). Their ability to grow, and their dominance over other microorganisms, is a function of things like humidity and preservatives involved in the sausage making process. The FDA is not saying it's okay to eat moldy meat in general.– SneftelNov 4, 2019 at 17:44
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Blue cheese mold Penicillium roqueforti actually produces some neurotoxins. Not at very high levels in the cheese though: sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/… Nov 5, 2019 at 0:33
It is OK to remove the outside moulin from Jerky (Biltong, as it is called in South Africa). I have been eating it for 60 years.
However if it smells real bad (as in a cheese), throw it away.
