Should I Eat The Cheese? (Slight variation on past questions)

November 23, 2008 8:08 AM

I have some Spanish 'Queso Tetilla' cheese (a soft cheese completely surrounded by a hard rind). It's about a month old and got taken in a suitcase from Barcelona to the UK for about 16 hours - apart from that, it's been in the fridge the whole time. There are a couple of spots of blue mould on the rind, and a soft patch where a sticker was (through cellophane), but having cut into it the inside seems OK. Should I Eat It?

Note: I realise variations on this question have been asked before, but the advice seemed to be 'eat hard cheese, chuck soft cheese'. Since the mould is on the hard rind (and as far as I can tell, not the soft innards) I thought the question was justified - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Plus, it's lovely, help me eat it.

posted by Kirn to health & fitness (7 answers total)

Don't eat it. Savor it.
posted by macadamiaranch at 8:16 AM on November 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

You should be fine.
posted by dunkadunc at 8:47 AM on November 23, 2008

Eat it.

You don't need to "chuck soft cheese." Even in areas where the drinking water is suspect, the fermented (non-distilled) products are generally safe to drink.

There are a few pathogens that can survive in fermented products (tuberculosis is the best-known), but by-and-large, far fewer than in inert foods. So, don't eat it if your mailman has TB, certainly. (That's a joke. Most Americans are innoculated against TB.)
posted by IAmBroom at 8:48 AM on November 23, 2008

Thanks guys, consider it ate. If I die I'll do a follow-up post.
posted by Kirn at 9:00 AM on November 23, 2008

No.
posted by Zambrano at 9:11 AM on November 23, 2008

Most Americans are innoculated against TB.

No, we're not. People from most other countries receive an anti-TB vaccine, but its efficacy is questionable, so we don't get it in the US.
posted by gramcracker at 1:48 PM on November 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Follow-up: I am not dead.
posted by Kirn at 2:29 AM on December 24, 2008