Mold danger at the cheese counter

Best-before date for supermarket cheese: Mold at the cheese counter

09/22/2013

Cheese from the supermarket is often moldy even before the expiry date of the best before date (MHD). This resulted in an investigation of the Bavarian consumer center, which now calls for improvements.

Best before date is not a disposable date
Consumer Minister Ilse Aigner advertises that the best before date is not a disposable date. So expired foods should first be checked to see if they are really no longer edible before being disposed of. Only a few days ago, the headline made: UN: Most of the food worldwide is thrown away aware that every year around 1.3 billion tons of food land in the garbage. But for some foods, the phrase on the BBD also seems to apply in the opposite direction, such as sliced ​​cheese. That is often not enjoyable before reaching the expiration date.

40 cheeses examined
The consumer center Bavaria had according to the „World on Sunday“ It was discovered that a large proportion of the products examined were simply moldy before the end of the printed best-before date. The consumer advocates had bought 40 different cheeses for their market study in the Greater Munich area and subsequently delivered them to the Central Institute for Nutrition and Food Research in Weihenstephan. There, the dairy products were spotted daily under laboratory conditions. And although the respective varieties such as Emmentaler or Gouda according to trade were actually still durable, blossomed after a few days, the first mold cultures on it.

60 percent of the pre-cut cheese affected
The cheeses, which had already been pre-cut by the trade and then offered for sale in self-service counters, apparently turned out to be particularly susceptible to mold. Out of this category 15 of the 25 cheese samples examined 15 were already moldy before the time, ie 60 percent. Cheese, which had already been packaged in a protective atmosphere at the manufacturer, was much better. In this category, only 20 percent of the samples detected mold growth until reaching the shelf life limit.

Consumer advocates demand rectification
The Federal Association of the German food trade explained that the expiration date for cut in the store and prepared goods „determined by the specialist personnel“ will. As a rule, the time span is determined on the basis of tests. The identified and objected problem could occur, for example, when portioning noble mold to other cheeses skip. Marion Breithaupt-Endres, Member of the Board of the Bavarian Consumer Center, demanded: „The expiry date of freshly cut cheese must be reconsidered and realistically revised by the suppliers.“

Claiming instead of eating
Although only one case of mold found after DNA analysis was classified as hazardous to health, but since such a distinction by eye is not possible, advises the consumer center, generally not to consume moldy cheese. Consumers should instead complain about the defective goods at the dealer. (Ad)