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Consumer expert says it's OK to eat mouldy food, raising eyebrows in cost crisis

Consumer expert says it's OK to eat mouldy food, raising eyebrows in cost crisis

Related video: Government on ‘war footing’ over cost of living crisis, minister claims

BBC Breakfast

The ongoing cost of living crisis, with its rising costs and falling wages, is now so bad that one consumer expert on This Morning is suggesting we can eat some food which has gone mouldy, provided you just chop off the green bits in question.

A guest on the popular daytime programme said earlier this week that it’s actually alright to eat some food items which have “gone-off”, in what is an excellent display of things being Absolutely Fine.

Speaking to hosts Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, Alice Beer said products on the supermarket shelves “don’t have the shelf life they used to”, meaning they are “going off”.

She continued: “What we have in our fridge, is food that doesn’t quite look as perfect as we’re used to, but the thing to remember [is] what mould and bacteria need to survive [is] moisture, warmth and air.

“If something already has a high moisture content, then it’s going to get mould on it quicker and it’s going to spread through it quickly.”

Advice shared by Ms Beer include a suggestion to “scrap the mould off the top of jam”, admitting that “the experts say ‘no, don’t do it”, but I would”.

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On bread, she said she would “cut the mouldy bit off” and then eat the slices as “it’s not going to do you any harm”.

Needless to say, don’t eat mould. The Food Standards Agency, who are pretty authoritative on this sort of stuff, says “food that is obviously rotten or containing mould should not be eaten”.

“This is due to potential risks from the mould. This advice is especially important for people in vulnerable groups.

“This includes children, people who are pregnant, people aged 65, and those who have a weakened immune system,” they said.

We can’t believe we had to type that.

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