mold=bad, bacon=good, moldy bacon=?

northpaw · Mar 22, 2009

The bacon sold in these parts is cured (or "dry cured"?), and I don't think it's ever refrigerated before you take it home. In any event, it's always either sitting in an open display or hanging by strings at the butchers.

When you first buy it, it often has a film of white, powdery stuff on it. I can't tell if this is salt that is leaching out or a fine film of mold. Either way, it washes right off, and I don't think it'd be possible to get bacon here without it.

But...

After about a week or so, it starts to get other growth on it - what I'd call REAL mold. This is often blue or green circles up to about the size of a fingertip, slightly fuzzy and fringed with white. The same kind of stuff you might see on moldy bread. The first time this happened, I'd had the bacon wrapped tightly in a plastic bag in the fridge, and it did seem to be moisture-related. Not wanting to throw away perfectly good food, I googled everything I could, and I read that cured meat often has mold so thick you're supposed to scrape it off. So I washed it with the back of a sponge until it looked brand new, sliced it, fried it, and ate it. It was delicious.

So now, a week or so later, I pull out the still-sizable slab, and it's covered in mold again. Maybe a dozen or so fingernail sized, blue-green circles. Knowing that I *could* wash/scrape it off, I'm still hesitant to continue eating something that looks like this: picture (linked b/c possibly Not Safe For Lunch)

Anybody have experience/advice with such bacon mold? Should I just scrape it off? Should I toss the slab (they aren't cheap here) and store the next one differently?

Sullybob · Mar 22, 2009

I don't know enough about food preservation to give you a 100% sure answer. What I will say is that the mold you are showing in the link does not look like the good kinds of mold associated with food preservation.

Why don't you go back to the shop where you purchased it and ask them? I would think that they would be or should be subject matter experts.

stobes21 · Mar 22, 2009

northpaw said:
The bacon sold in these parts is cured (or "dry cured"?), and I don't think it's ever refrigerated before you take it home. In any event, it's always either sitting in an open display or hanging by strings at the butchers.

When you first buy it, it often has a film of white, powdery stuff on it. I can't tell if this is salt that is leaching out or a fine film of mold. Either way, it washes right off, and I don't think it'd be possible to get bacon here without it.

But...

After about a week or so, it starts to get other growth on it - what I'd call REAL mold. This is often blue or green circles up to about the size of a fingertip, slightly fuzzy and fringed with white. The same kind of stuff you might see on moldy bread. The first time this happened, I'd had the bacon wrapped tightly in a plastic bag in the fridge, and it did seem to be moisture-related. Not wanting to throw away perfectly good food, I googled everything I could, and I read that cured meat often has mold so thick you're supposed to scrape it off. So I washed it with the back of a sponge until it looked brand new, sliced it, fried it, and ate it. It was delicious.

So now, a week or so later, I pull out the still-sizable slab, and it's covered in mold again. Maybe a dozen or so fingernail sized, blue-green circles. Knowing that I *could* wash/scrape it off, I'm still hesitant to continue eating something that looks like this: picture (linked b/c possibly Not Safe For Lunch)

Anybody have experience/advice with such bacon mold? Should I just scrape it off? Should I toss the slab (they aren't cheap here) and store the next one differently?

If your butcher stores it in the open hanging on a string you probably should too. The added moisture and temp change of the fridge is probably responsible for the quick mold growth. To be sure, the next time you buy it ask your butcher the best way to store it.

As for whether your current slab is still good I don't know. Good luck.

northpaw · Mar 22, 2009

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Tell the truth, that moldy bacon doesn't look nearly so tempting now that I'm full of other food.

I'll definitely check with the butcher next time I get a chance - both about acceptable mold levels and preferred storage methods.

I actually considered hanging the first one, but I didn't know where to stash it to keep it safe from SWMBO or my cat. Somewhere up high, I guess.

Mr.Gentleman · Mar 22, 2009

stobes21 said:
If your butcher stores it in the open hanging on a string you probably should too. The added moisture and temp change of the fridge is probably responsible for the quick mold growth. To be sure, the next time you buy it ask your butcher the best way to store it.

As for whether your current slab is still good I don't know. Good luck.

+1
And also, I think that this wouldn't happen if bacon was vacuumed...

D.Irving79 · Mar 22, 2009

i eat mine so rare thats its raw so i cant see yours being much worse.

northpaw · Mar 22, 2009

If it's cured, I'm all for it. You do mean cured bacon, right? I don't imagine slurping down Hormel strips raw would be a great idea.

By the way, I chunked the bacon. Seems that the less-deadly forms of blue/green mold are often penicillin, which I don't get along with anyway. Of course, NOW my wife tells me that I could just ask the butcher to cut me a few hundred grams instead of buying a 1.5 kilo slab. :lol:

Sullybob · Mar 22, 2009

D.Irving79 said:
i eat mine so rare thats its raw so i cant see yours being much worse.

But your bacon is cured when you get it. You could eat bacon right out of the package, its chemically cured which is a type of preservation or cooking and then it is cold smoked. Another difference is that his bacon is growing mold, not mold like on the rind of a cheese but mold like what starts growing on a damp piece of bread left in a cabinet for a while.

blantyre · Mar 22, 2009

I'm no expert on these matters but am happy to chime in anyway! One difference between bacon and bread is the density. When mold forms on bread, the mold filaments are usually throughout the loaf, even if the patches are only visible on the surface. Bacon is dense protein and the mold will most likely travel only over the surface, so if the meat is carefully trimmed, the underlying material should be OK. The caveat is that I believe molds that form on meat produce more toxic decomposition products so it's probably best to avoid eating them.

The suggestion of asking the vendor for advice seems like a good one to me.

mmack66 · Mar 22, 2009

I may be accused of food waste, but if any of my food has mold growing on it that isn't meant to be there, e.g., Blue Cheese, I throw it away.

richmondesi · Mar 22, 2009

My father-in-law owned a processing plant. I freaked out the first time I was told me about the practice of hanging meat until it grew mold all over it.

yardpup01 · Mar 22, 2009

Well if you multiply a positive and a negative number you get a negative. So I'd say moldy bacon is bad. Other than that I work in a meat shop, but we never store whole slabs of bacon, but I can't imagine mold is good. That's all the help I've got.

thunderball · Mar 22, 2009

mmack66 said:
I may be accused of food waste, but if any of my food has mold growing on it that isn't meant to be there, e.g., Blue Cheese, I throw it away.

+1

I too am guilty of chucking anything going fuzzy in the fridge. :blushing:

rabelais99 · Mar 23, 2009

I used to never be able to finish a package of bacon before it went off. What I do now is to divide the package into 5 or 6 slice portions. I wrap them in plastic cling wrap and freeze them. Been doing that for years and it works like a charm.

As for your bacon issues, you said that it has 'white powder' that washes right off. I think that this is salt leeching from the slab (a good thing). Mold should not form in the presence of this salt. If you wash this salt off the slab, you may be allowing mold to form. I would suggest that you take a cloth and wipe down just as much of the slab as you are going to slice and use.

Also, if you're going to refrigerate the slab, it will need to breathe a bit and to stay dry. After all, it was hanging in open air in the butcher's shop for some time. I find that bacon (or any other cured meat) wrapped in butcher's paper (never plastic) will last longer in the refrigerator. The paper will allow the slab to breathe and stay dry. If you notice moisture forming on the slab, wipe it off with a cloth.

freezer = plastic wrap
refrigerator = paper wrap

Finally, if it doesn't look right or smell right, then throw it out. Not worth taking a risk with your health.

Not far from where I live (in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is a butcher from Slovenia. Delicious pork sausages, and very good bacon!

------------
Alan

Sullybob · Mar 23, 2009

rabelais99 said:
I used to never be able to finish a package of bacon before it went off. What I do now is to divide the package into 5 or 6 slice portions. I wrap them in plastic cling wrap and freeze them. Been doing that for years and it works like a charm.

Heretic!

I have never had a problem finishing bacon off :lol:

Ever. Now that I have kids its even easier. They love bacon more then me. We ration bacon otherwise those little carnivores would eat a pound of bacon a day.

rabelais99 said:
As for your bacon issues, you said that it has 'white powder' that washes right off. I think that this is salt leeching from the slab (a good thing). Mold should not form in the presence of this salt. If you wash this salt off the slab, you may be allowing mold to form. I would suggest that you take a cloth and wipe down just as much of the slab as you are going to slice and use.

Also, if you're going to refrigerate the slab, it will need to breathe a bit and to stay dry. After all, it was hanging in open air in the butcher's shop for some time. I find that bacon (or any other cured meat) wrapped in butcher's paper (never plastic) will last longer in the refrigerator. The paper will allow the slab to breathe and stay dry. If you notice moisture forming on the slab, wipe it off with a cloth.

freezer = plastic wrap
refrigerator = paper wrap

Finally, if it doesn't look right or smell right, then throw it out. Not worth taking a risk with your health.

Not far from where I live (in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is a butcher from Slovenia. Delicious pork sausages, and very good bacon!

------------
Alan

Food poisoning is no joke.

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