One day, you open the fridge and find some moldy（发霉的）food. But before you can throw it away, your mother stops you. She doesn't want to waste it, so she cuts off the moldy part and eats the rest. Is it safe to do this?
Mold can grow on almost all kinds of food. It is usually green, white, black or gray. Mold makes food soft and changes its color. Moldy food tastes quite bad and it's not safe to eat.
If you find mold in soft food, just throw it away. Soft food, such as bread, tomatoes or hot dogs, usually contains（含有）water, which allows mold to grow easily below its surface. Bacteria（细菌）can also grow along with it.
But it's easy to remove mold from hard food because mold can't grow very deep inside this kind of food. According to BBC news, you should cut about 2.5 cm around and below the mold to remove it. It's OK to cut the moldy parts out of hard food and eat the rest. But if the food is completely covered with mold, you should still throw it away.
Most kinds of mold are bad for us. But some kinds of mold can be used to make food. For example, penicillin（青霉菌）can be used to make many types of cheeses, such as blue cheese. These cheeses are safe to eat and they're quite delicious as well.
