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The refrigerator is an important center of the household and as such, you would think that people would remember to keep these food centers cleaned more often than they tend to.  Even though it is fairly cool inside, mold can still grow very well in these cool temperatures, as anyone who has opened a jar of spoiled grape jelly can surely tell you.  Whether it is a jar of grape jelly or a casserole left in the fridge for a bit too long, mold can grow on anything in your refrigerator that it can get onto.  This includes, well… just about everything that is not completely sealed up, such as home-canned goods that have not had their seals broken.  Mold spores are everywhere and in the air we breathe, unless the air is purified, such as in a hospital or laboratory clean room, so it is fairly hard to keep mold completely off of something we do not want it on, but it can be done.  It just takes a little effort.  Cleaning out your refrigerator and knowing what to do with moldy food (some of it can be saved, believe it or not) is essential to keeping a healthy kitchen. 

Take everything out of your refrigerator and put it either on your kitchen table or on the counters for you to deal with later.  You will go through these items after you are finished cleaning out the inside of your refrigerator.

Remove all drawers, shelves, and racks so that you can wash them in the sink in whatever household chemical you have chosen for this task.  Whether it is anti-bacterial soap, bleach, or even better, a chemical made specifically to kill mold, use plenty of it, but do not mix chemicals, especially bleach.  If you do use bleach, do your best not to get it on your hands.  Wear rubber gloves. 

Wash the inside of the refrigerator with a sponge or a rag thoroughly.  To get some things that might be stuck to the wall of the fridge or stuck to a shelf off, let some warm water and some of the chemical you have chosen soak on it a few minutes.  After you are done with the inside of the refrigerator, wash the parts that you removed, dry them, and replace them.

As for the food you took out, put back everything that is not contaminated with mold.  Anything with a high moisture content that is contaminated like sour cream or jelly must be thrown away.  Blocks of cheese or dense items like hard salami can have the molded parts cut out and thrown away.  Cut 1 inch around and one inch under the molded part(s), remove, and discard.  The rest is usable.

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One of the most dangerous molds that a person can have growing in their home or place of business is the one that we have all come to associate with the term “toxic black mold”.  This is Stachybotrys chartarum and it is sometimes simply called “stachy” for short.  The media has made it famous in the past few years and it has been largely responsible for the resurgence of the awareness of the dangers of mold.  The health consequences of this mold living in your home are fairly dangerous and can even end in death in some extreme cases. 

This mold is fond of growing on such things as wood that has been water damaged or in some cases, on paper or cardboard that has been piled up and allowed to be wet.  It does not grow on plastic or on non-porous surfaces such as tile in the bathroom or the kitchen or on concrete or counter tops.  Any wood or cellulose-based items that have been wetted and let to dry naturally will eventually become contaminated with mold and will probably end up spreading to the rest of your household.  This particular kind of mold needs almost non-stop moisture or humidity to continue to live.  It is typically a greenish-black color, slimy, and wet when it is found in the home and it needs such things as cotton, wood, or paper to grow for very long.  Even though the wet spores of this mold do not get into the air very easily, if it is let to try, these spores will enter the air in your home as soon as the air is stirred by a fan or an air conditioner and this can be very hazardous.

This is one of the most dangerous kinds of mold that you can come into contact with.  It has been known to kill a person’s brain cells and cause sicknesses that can have a similar effect as Alzheimer’s Disease.  Symptoms of this include dizziness or disorientation of any kind, such as blanking out or forgetting what you were doing while you were in the middle of doing it or memory loss.  If you are not old enough to be at risk to have Alzheimer’s Disease, it is advised that you see your doctor as soon as possible.  If you are concerned that mold may exist, conduct some do-it-yourself mold tests in your home in order to rule out or identify mold as the cause. 

Some common symptoms of mold exposure have been known to be pneumonia, headaches, bloody noses, or any other kind of respiratory issue.  Mold also aggravates pre-existing conditions such as asthma or emphysema.  Exposure for long periods of time can cause kidney failure, liver failure, or bleeding of the lungs in babies. 

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