Is somewhat moldy soy cheese harmful?

[veganpixie]

I know that molded cow's milk dairy cheese is deadly and if eaten can send you to the hospital, but what about molded soy cheese? We bought some Follow Your Heart soy mozzerella vegan cheese and we're both upset and devastated that neither of us paid enough attention before it went bad on us. Last night, my husband scraped and removed all of the visible moldy parts and we could see that there was some remaining without visible mold. What bothers me is that it doesn't smell right to me. I can't remember exactly how it smelled when I opened the package, but I don't recall it smelling the way it does now. My husband still wants to try and possibly use it. I told him to heat it up real well and see if it smells any better before we consider eating it. He thinks maybe I'm being a bit too neurotic about it, but I feel that I'm being cautious and sensible. I was going to search for information in yahoo, but I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone here can help me since it's vegan and the soy cheese is vegan. It's not old. We bought it 2-3 weeks ago so I believe it should still be okay, but I honestly don't know what to do now. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Please tell me. Thanks.

[Tigerlily]

I wouldn't eat it. Spoiled vegan food can still make you sick.

[emmapresley]

agreed! if it smells 'not right'..BIN IT!

[thecatspajamas1]

You shouldn't ever eat mold, no matter what its medium is (vegan or not).

I have to admit that when there are a few moldy strawberries in a batch I compost the bad ones and eat the rest, even though they could potentially be contaminated with spores. But I have a strong stomach.

Just to be safe, I'd say compost it and go buy another one. Or if it's moldy even though you bought it recently, maybe you could return it at the store.

[veggiepark]

I read your post and had the exact same problem. I purched Follow Your Heart Cheesse about 2-3 weeks ago for the first time. I opened the Mozzarella to taste ( which i would not recommed eating raw/plain, though it tastes good/okay melted.) and folded the plastic package back up, put it back in the fridge and forgot it till you posted. It was totalley black molded. Yiuck! I threw it away, did not attempt to rescue any of it. The unopened sealed Follow Your Heart cheddar cheese i purchased at the same time, is looking fresh as ever! Ha!

[tipsy]

the visable mold is only where it congregates. mold is not visable when not congregated, but its still there.
and mold congregations like that send out "root" like things into whatever they are living on, so scraping the fuzz off wont do it.

(i have a mildly photographic memory, especially for science things, im really not that much of a nerd... or wait, i guess i am... )

that said, 2-3 weeks is wayyyyy too long to expect soycheese to last! thats one of the reasons i dont buy the stuff! if i can make it a week and a half without it starting to taste funky thats good.

(well i also think it tastes funky to start off with...but you know what i mean )

anyway, compost it!

[fiamma]

I used to eat stuff that was mouldy (just scraped or cut it off) and it never did me any harm. I hate wasting food as much as the next person, but some kinds of mould can be harmful, and I just don't think it's worth the risk.

[cobweb]

I wouldn't touch pretty much anything that had been opened and left for more than a few days .

How did you manage to leave it for that long, anyway? . I open a Vegan cheese and eat it all in 24 hours! . That's why I don't buy it often, I'd be the size of a house!.

[trystan]

Given how rank soy cheese tastes fresh (Toffuti mozarella excluded) I would imagine that anything is an improvement. Always reminds me of those nasty 'cheese football' snack things that used to be popular as nibbles when I was a kid. Yuk!

[Orange-powered]

How did you manage to leave it for that long, anyway? . I open a Vegan cheese and eat it all in 24 hours! . That's why I don't buy it often, I'd be the size of a house!.

I'm the same!

[Tigerlily]

Also, to make it last longer, I wrap mine tightly with plastic wrap and put it in a ziplock bag. I also don't keep it on the fridge door but inside the shelves. But it only lasts less than a week.

[Gorilla]

i don't know about brands available outside the UK, but vegan cheeses available here definitely don't last more than a few days unopened before going mouldy. you'll need to use it up a lot more quickly if you don't want it to spoil. i wouldn't eat mouldy vegan cheese.

[veganpixie]

Thank you everyone for your helpful responses. I appreciate all of them very much! Yes, there's no question that anything moldy, regardless of what it is, is unhealthy, gross and should be tossed in the garbage. I think part of the reason we don't just gobble the entire thing in 1 sitting is economics...we sometimes try to make the food item stretch a bit...but it's probably not always wise to do that. Thanks again.

*vegan hugs and cheers*