If the fruit is moldy and rotten, can I still eat it after cutting off the rotten part?

Can we still eat rotten fruit?

Some people think that once something is rotten, it should be thrown away and cannot be eaten.
Some people think that it is not a big problem and they can just cut out the rotten parts and still eat it.

Although the problem is small, there is no definitive answer, which makes people feel uneasy about eating fruit.

In order to solve this confusion, we specially "raised" some rotten fruits and prepared to do a simulation test.

See if these fruits are still edible:

Remove any rotten parts of the fruit

Fruit next to rotten fruit

Dad's real shot

01 Cut out the rotten parts of the fruits. We chose a pear and a peach.

Choose a place with suitable temperature and start growing them until they all develop mold and begin to rot.

Cut out the rotten part of the fruit and send it together with the non-rotten part (2 cm outside the rotten part) to the laboratory for testing.

Also sent for testing were fresh pears and peaches.

Sampling 2 cm away from the rotten part

The test results are as follows:

The results show:

There is very little mold and bacteria in fresh peaches and pears;

The mold count of moldy and rotten fruits was very high, reaching more than 100,000. Even millions of molds were detected in rotten peaches.

Even in the parts that were not rotten or moldy, tens of thousands of molds were still detected. The mold requirement for general food is ≤100 CFU/g, which is obviously exceeded.

Let’s take a look at what the non-moldy part looks like under a 1000x microscope.

Mold is clearly visible

It seems that even if there is no hair, there are still a lot of mold lurking in other places.

In addition to excessive mold, rotten fruit presents a bigger risk problem: toxins.

Too much mold will produce toxins, which will spread in the flesh.

Even places that don't look moldy may already have invisible mycelium and may even contain toxins. If eaten, it is very likely to cause food poisoning.

Take the most common green mold on the surface of fruit as an example.

It produces patulin, which may cause intestinal dysfunction, renal edema, etc.

So if the fruit is rotten or moldy, it is best to throw the whole thing away, even if it is a little rotten.

However, if the fruit becomes soft due to impact or falling and appears to be rotten, it is actually just mechanical damage and it is fine to eat it quickly.

However, after the fruit has become softened, it must be eaten quickly, otherwise it will easily rot if left for too long.

02 Next to the rotten fruits, we chose a box of cherry tomatoes.

Leave it for a while until some small rotten tomatoes appear.

The rotten tomatoes and the intact tomatoes next to the rotten samples were sent to the laboratory for testing separately.

The results are as follows:

The results show:

The rotten cherry tomatoes have mold counts reaching millions and are definitely not edible.

The non-moldy cherry tomatoes next to the moldy samples looked intact, but the actual number of mold fungi measured was already over ten thousand, which was obviously above the standard.

This phenomenon is particularly common in oranges, grapes, and cherry tomatoes.

Because these fruits are stored close to each other, if one of them rots, it will easily contaminate the adjacent fruits.

Our recommendation: If the fruit is rotten, it is recommended to discard it in time to prevent contamination of other fruits, and try not to eat the fruits next to it.

Summary 1. If the fruit is left to rot, don't eat it.

Even in areas where mold spots are not visible, there are actually tens of thousands of molds, which can easily cause food poisoning if eaten.

2. If the fruit is next to rotten fruit, the mold content may also exceed the standard, so it is best not to eat it.

3. If the fruit becomes soft due to impact or falling, it may appear to be rotten, but in fact it is only mechanical damage. It is fine to eat it quickly.

4. Some tropical fruits will be frozen if placed in the refrigerator (such as bananas and mangoes). These fruits will turn black and soft, but they are still edible.

5. Similarly, the same goes for tuber vegetables such as red/purple sweet potatoes and taro. As long as they are a little rotten or moldy, it is best not to eat them.

Frugality is a virtue, but if you eat moldy fruit and end up in the hospital, both your wallet and your body will suffer.

For health reasons, stay away from moldy fruits.