An expert has warned why you should never pick mould off a piece of bread – and still eat it.
The advice was revealed in Kym Marsh’s new BBC show Morning Live, as they discussed Marcus Rashford’s new campaign against child poverty in the UK.
The topic shifted to discussing how much food we waste in the UK, although bread is apparently one food, we should never feel bad about binning.
While some people may pick off the mouldy parts of a piece of bread and eat the rest, there are plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t.
During the 45-minute episode, Ready Steady Cook chef Anna Haugh explained that in the UK we throw away ’20 million slices of bread per day’.
‘There’s one thing you shouldn’t do when your bread is on the turn, is cut off any signs of mould and eat the rest,’ Anna explained.
After putting a piece of bread under a microscope, food scientist Dr Nazanin Zand explained even if you pick off the mould, the bread is still bad to eat.
‘This is a piece of a roll of a bread,’ the expert explained. ‘That has been separated from another roll that was contaminated.
‘As you look at it with the naked eye, mould isn’t visible, but when you zoom in, you can see that mould has clearly grown and actually penetrated in the surface of the bread.’
Anna added: ‘It may not be visible, but the mould actually runs all the way through the loaf, and for some that could actually be a bigger deal than it sounds because bread mould contains micro-toxins which can affect the immune system.’
Dr Zand went on to explain that while there are no real dangers of eating mouldy bread, the long-term effects can be dangerous.
‘I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous and is going to cause any immortality,’ she added.
‘The point about exposure over a period of time is that micro-toxin has an accumulative effect.
‘Long term exposure and a high dose, can cause problems.’
Morning Live airs weekdays at 9.15am on BBC One.