Is it sinful to discard moldy bread?

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A) Try not to be scrupulous over this.

B) If you’ve bought “too much bread” it was a mistake, a simple error in judgement, or maybe just the way things happenned to go.

“Hey, there was a sale,” right? “And I can use that!” So you get drawn in and grab more than necessary. Or perhaps you just don’'t eat as much as fast as you thought you might. No biggie. It happens. We can’t perfectly judge ahead of time how much we’ll need and it’s a fair idea to be prepared within reason.

Now, if you’re throwing out gobs of bread at a time, or you’re always throwing out too much moldly bread, then yes you might want to rethink how you’re going about this. Can you buy better bread which will last longer? Can you better preserve the bread? Do you need to buy that much bread all at once? But, still, it’s not likely a sin (or even if it were, it would be a minor one at worst). It’s just a matter of finding through trial and error (which won’t always work out ideally, even when you think you have it down to a science) what works for you. So, unless maybe you are intentionally buying bread knowing that it will definitely get moldly before consumption and you, therefore, purposefully desired to waste your money anyway because you’d rather selfishly spend it on bread than give it to a good cause, then it’s not a sin. However, I’d seriously doubt that the latter extreme case is your situation. So try not to worry about it. Bread gets moldly. It’s the natural progression of things. And your necessary disposal of such isn’t making God angry or upset.
 
Sir_Knight said:
What about buying too much where by you can not consume it before it goes bad?
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If you did it on purpose for a nefarious reason, then yes. (Like, if you bought all the bread in the whole store in order to drive up the price so that you could get a profit in your wheat stocks? Or so that you could open a sandwich shop on your front lawn? Or so that you could laugh at all the little kids when they can’t have any toast for breakfast?) 🤷

Otherwise, no.
 
it would have been more sinful to eat it all up and get sick before it gets moldy… Let alone eating it afterwards and getting food poisoning…
😉
 
No, it’s not sinful. If something would be, then it would be eating it. You would be basically damaging your body.
 
If this weighs on your conscience and you truly wonder if this is a sin, I truly feel sorry for you. Please, please! Do not let your self worry so much…
 
OMG! I saw this thread and screamed! :eek:

I work in a microbiology lab. NEVER EVER eat moldy bread!

There is a world-renowed fungus lab down in San Antonio. The doctor in charge of that lab came to our hospital to give a lecture on fungal infections.

He did a case study about a woman, in her 50s, who was diabetic and therefore immunocompromised. She cut the mold away and ate the bread.

A few hours later she went to the ER complaining of pain in her face. They did Xrays and all kinds of tests, and meanwhile, her face kept swelling and swelling and SWELLING. Finally, about 8 hours later, her face burst and she died.

I’m not kidding–he showed this whole sequence in slides. This is not an urban myth! I still have the video of his presentation. (He had all kinds of unsavory case studies, including a patient where a toadstool was growing on the heart! I’m serious!) :eek:

What had happened is that Rhizopus spores–common bread mold–had gotten into the lady’s sinuses, spread throughout her facial cavities, including her bones, and of course the face swelled until it burst. There was nothing they could do except administer anti-fungals, but by the time they realized what was happening, it was too late.

Rhizopus grows very fast (as you know if you’ve ever seen bread mold). In a culture, it will grow and push the lid off the plate within 24 hours. (We seal our fungal cultures.)

In most people, Rhizopus probably won’t cause any harm if you happen to eat a few spores. But in someone with a compromising condition like diabetes, cancer, HIV, or other debilitating condition, or in the very young or very old, innocent bread mold can become a killer.

I’m not sure if it hurts birds. I doubt it, but I wonder if it could infect mammals (e.g., coons, squirrels, etc.) that might ingest the bread scraps?

What a way to go, eh?

I have problems with bread molding, too. We don’t like bread from the freezer or frig. So we just try to eat as much as we can of it, and toss the rest. Just today, I was saying that I wish they would sell half-loaves. Oh, well. I guess this is yet another argument for having many many children to finish the whole loaf, right?!
 
Cat, thank you for that information. I had no idea that moldy bread could be life threatening.
 
Cat said:
I have problems with bread molding, too. We don’t like bread from the freezer or frig. So we just try to eat as much as we can of it, and toss the rest. Just today, I was saying that I wish they would sell half-loaves. Oh, well. I guess this is yet another argument for having many many children to finish the whole loaf, right?!
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I never wanted to eat moldy bread before, but I certainly will never eat it now. :eek:

There are certain brands of bread that come in smaller-sized loaves. They would keep on the countertop for the length of time it would take to finish them. Those brands aren’t the cheapest, but then, it isn’t very economical to always have to discard the leftovers. 😉

Maybe you should get a bread machine that makes small size loaves!

Mudgie-in-training and freelance sparkle/coffee grinds sprinkler
 
IMHO it would be a sin to eat moldy bread! I sometimes recall the Salem witch trials in which people ate bread made with moldy rye and had ergot poisoning and hallucinations, causing the townspeople to accuse certain folk of witchcraft and devil worshipping.

I don’t even feed moldy bread to birds. It is thrown away. I usually have bread left over every week, before it gets moldy and bad I stick it in the oven for a few min to dry it out, crumble it into pieces and keep it in plastic bags. It is then given to birds around my area. Since we use multi grain bread they are really getting a treat.
 
CarolAnnSFO said:
Maybe you should get a bread machine that makes small size loaves!

Mudgie-in-training and freelance sparkle/coffee grinds sprinkler
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I was thinking the same thing for my own family. My kids really like the white fluffy bread (yuck, blah, phooy), and I like the whole grain breads. However, I have a hard time consuming a whole loaf myself during the week, so on Saturday, the hens get what I wasn’t able to eat. But I wonder if I made my own, smaller loaf, if that would be any easier.
 
who often eat bread and we often don’t finish it all. it gets moldy and we need to throw it away. i do feel guilty coz it’s wasteful
 
Yikes!!!

Does toasting the bread kill the fungus???
[what about mouldy cheese??] [especially that delicious gorgonzola??]
Cat said:
OMG! I saw this thread and screamed! :eek:

I work in a microbiology lab. NEVER EVER eat moldy bread!

There is a world-renowed fungus lab down in San Antonio. The doctor in charge of that lab came to our hospital to give a lecture on fungal infections.

He did a case study about a woman, in her 50s, who was diabetic and therefore immunocompromised. She cut the mold away and ate the bread.

A few hours later she went to the ER complaining of pain in her face. They did Xrays and all kinds of tests, and meanwhile, her face kept swelling and swelling and SWELLING. Finally, about 8 hours later, her face burst and she died.

I’m not kidding–he showed this whole sequence in slides. This is not an urban myth! I still have the video of his presentation. (He had all kinds of unsavory case studies, including a patient where a toadstool was growing on the heart! I’m serious!) :eek:

What had happened is that Rhizopus spores–common bread mold–had gotten into the lady’s sinuses, spread throughout her facial cavities, including her bones, and of course the face swelled until it burst. There was nothing they could do except administer anti-fungals, but by the time they realized what was happening, it was too late.

Rhizopus grows very fast (as you know if you’ve ever seen bread mold). In a culture, it will grow and push the lid off the plate within 24 hours. (We seal our fungal cultures.)

In most people, Rhizopus probably won’t cause any harm if you happen to eat a few spores. But in someone with a compromising condition like diabetes, cancer, HIV, or other debilitating condition, or in the very young or very old, innocent bread mold can become a killer.

I’m not sure if it hurts birds. I doubt it, but I wonder if it could infect mammals (e.g., coons, squirrels, etc.) that might ingest the bread scraps?

What a way to go, eh?

I have problems with bread molding, too. We don’t like bread from the freezer or frig. So we just try to eat as much as we can of it, and toss the rest. Just today, I was saying that I wish they would sell half-loaves. Oh, well. I guess this is yet another argument for having many many children to finish the whole loaf, right?!
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Hey, the Fungi have to eat too! Why would anyone want to deprive those little fungi? Actually I liked the idea of after a couple of days drying and converting left over bread to crumbs that could be stored and used for breaded pork chops or fish, to top a casserole. or to feed dem hungry boids.😃
 
Cat said:
There is a world-renowed fungus lab down in San Antonio. The doctor in charge of that lab came to our hospital to give a lecture on fungal infections…

(He had all kinds of unsavory case studies, including a patient where a toadstool was growing on the heart! I’m serious!) :eek:
Click to expand...
Ewww…yuck!
Cat said:
He did a case study about a woman, in her 50s, who was diabetic and therefore immunocompromised. She cut the mold away and ate the bread.

A few hours later she went to the ER complaining of pain in her face. They did Xrays and all kinds of tests, and meanwhile, her face kept swelling and swelling and SWELLING. Finally, about 8 hours later, her face burst and she died…

In most people, Rhizopus probably won’t cause any harm if you happen to eat a few spores. But in someone with a compromising condition like diabetes, cancer, HIV, or other debilitating condition, or in the very young or very old, innocent bread mold can become a killer.
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Thanks for this information. 🙂

I printing your post for my mom. She is diabetic and I think this will help her know not to keep foodstuffs (including bread) beyond their expiry date.
 
Is bread really more sacred than say…a tomato, an orange, a leftover casserole, a slice of bologna? Would you eat any of these foods if it had mold on them? I wouldn’t.
 
Great idea!–Turning stale (not moldy) bread into breadcrumbs or croutons.

Years ago, the Mennonites came out with the More With Less Cookbook. I was fortunate to be a newlywed when this book came out, and it influenced the way I cook.

The book emphasizes the need for respecting “our daily bread” and not consuming more than we need, or wasting food.

There are recipes in that book for homemade bread crumbs and croutons.

I’m sure other cookbooks have recipes, too.

I have to admit that I don’t do this, because I don’t cook much. BUT–one thing I do is throw bread out for the birds and squirrles before it gets moldy. At least the bread will go back to the soil again, instead of ending up in a sanitary landfill where it will never decompose.
 
I don’t think that toasting moldy bread kills the spores.

I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t want to take a chance. Fungal spores are pretty hardy.
 
Cat said:
I don’t think that toasting moldy bread kills the spores.

I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t want to take a chance. Fungal spores are pretty hardy.
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A second vote for “toasting doesn’t take care of mold”. I suppose if the bread got hot enough the mold might be killed, but aren’t there still toxins present?

Another note: don’t cut off the moldy part and eat the rest. Bread is porous, and if there’s a moldy spot on the loaf, you can assume that the spores at least have spread through the rest, even if they aren’t yet visible.

Third note: preservative-laden white breads mold the fastest. I’ve had homemade whole-wheat breads keep for two weeks at room temp. without going moldy. Store-bought all-natural (no corn syrup, no preservatives) 100% whole-grain breads seem to last for a long time as well. I’ve had them go stale well before they’ve shown signs of mold. Plus they’re healthier for you, and IMO they taste better. 👍
 
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