After 2 days (at standard room temperature and humidity) bread starts to get toxic. The molds that appear in it (Aspergillus, particularly Aspergillus flavus) produce dangerous mycotoxins called aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are carcinogenic, i.e. regular consumption of food that contains aflatoxins can cause cancer (usually after years of usage).
How does the bread mold look like?
In the erliest stage you will see nothing, later some white points will develop on the surface very similar to flour. Taste of such bread is unchanged, aflatoxins are tasteless, odorless and colorless yet very powerful toxins.
Based on the mold type, an old fungus can have variety of colors from white to dark green and contains various amounts of mycotoxins (an experiment has shown that the largest amount of aflatoxins was found in a 7 day old bread stored in a plastic bag at a room temperature).
Why does bread mold?
Molds can be part of the ingredients used to produce the bread (storage of the wheat grains or flour in dry places is probably the most important factor) and can survive the baking process.
And molds also are part of the environment (there are millions od spores flying around you right now, are you scared?) and get into bread after its production.
There are specific conditions that help molds develop and grow - molds will grow better in wet, warm and dark environment.
Mold-proof storage of bread?
It won´t help if you put the bread in your refrigerator (8 degrees C isn´t low enough), in contrary, if the bread gets wet it will spoil even faster.
Also you won´t help yourself if you make toasts of your 4-days old bread as neither 100 Celsius degrees neutralize the toxins that already developed.
So how to avoid molding of bread?
Buy as much bread as you can eat in 2 days. Store it in a breadbox (wooden, plastic, stainless steel). If you happened to buy too much bread, freeze it in a freezer (at -18 Celsius degrees) wrapped in a plastic bag.
Defrosting of such frozen bread is best done if you unwrap it from the plastic bag and place it a clean tissue (fabric, towel… whatever).
Bread older than 2 days should not be used (neither for toasts and crumbs).
Technorati Tags: aflatoxins, aspergillus flavus, bread mold, cancer, carcinogenic, frozen bread, molds, mycotoxins, room temperature, spores, toxins
i am 10 and i am doing a project on molding bread and i want to know can bread kill you? if you get this can you tell me buy 2-18-08 that is when my project is do thanks
buy:shea:smile::cool::lol::wink::shock::neutral::mrgreen:
ok im 11 ND I JUST had A SANDWICH AND I NOTICED IT TASTED FUNNY AND OLD SO I LOOKED AND TURNED ON THE LIGHT AND IT WAS GREEN I HAD MADE IT IN THE DARK! AND IM REALLY WORRIED!!!!
Hello, Carlee,
there is no need to panic. If you feel sick, go to doctor but one slice of moldy bread should not hurt you very much.
vilo, what are you talking about?
my 28 year old dad, i’m 15, died last year because he ate moldy bread!
i can’t believe you woud even denythat fact that calee is going to die!
oh em gee woman.
carlee i’m sorry to tell you, but if i were you, i would do whatever you want until you die.
my dad didn’t have that chance =/
so i would if i were you. AIDZ4LIFE
the way i look at it, you have about 6 minutes before the reaper is gonna collect the toll.
Ian, I am really sorry for what happened to your dad.
But… you simply have to accept that was a bad coincidence of many factors..
You probably wouldn´t like to scare to death a 13 y old girl who unintentionally ate a piece of old bread, would you?
If you, people wish, I will publish a video of myself eating some (safe dosage) of molded bread… do you???
i don’t have to scare her to death she’s probably already dead son.
yes make a video and send me the link plz.
because coincidence or not, she’s going to die.
gosh you silly goober
I have heard of many cases (some of them personal) in which people have died from eating bread mold. Even in small amounts this can be extremely dangerous. In some cases the bodies decomposition rate increases by 500 percent. For those of you who don’t know, that is fast enough to be seen by the human eye. It is not a pretty sight.
i have aids
Hello, Ian, Concerned Parent and Another Concerned Parent… for an unknown reason you all have the same IP address located at Thornapple Kellogg High School… just a coincidence?
lol. this was quite entertaining. thank you.
Thanks for creating a really informative site. It’s more than most people do!
I have done an assigment on how rapidly bread moulds in certain locations.
You stated in your text that bread will get ‘wet and spoil even faster’. but rather, my result was quite the contrary. the bread i had stored in the refridgerator went completely soild within a day,and over a period of 14 days, bread remaind the same. how do you explain that?
Thanks for the quick info. I ate some moldy bread and was concerned because it didn’t look like any I had seen before. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine though. I also found the previous posts entertaining. Kudos to Vilo for keeping cool.