Why you can salvage moldy cheese but never spoiled meat

What to pitch, what to salvage

Brad Reisfeld, Colorado State University

When you open the refrigerator and find a wedge of cheese flecked with green mold, or a package of chicken that smells faintly sour, it can be tempting to gamble with your stomach rather than waste food.

But the line between harmless fermentation and dangerous spoilage is sharp. Consuming spoiled foods exposes the body to a range of microbial toxins and biochemical by-products, many of which can interfere with essential biological processes. The health effects can vary from mild gastrointestinal discomfort to severe conditions such as liver cancer.

I am a toxicologist and researcher specializing in how foreign chemicals such as those released during food spoilage affect the body. Many spoiled foods contain specific microorganisms that produce toxins. Because individual sensitivity to these chemicals varies, and the amount present in spoiled foods can also vary widely, there are no absolute guidelines on what is safe to eat. However, it’s always a good idea to know your enemies so you can take steps to avoid them.

Offshore wind’s effects on fish won’t be studied due to federal cuts

Fishermen join the list of those harmed by vindictive Trump cuts

By Anastasia E. Lennon in The New Bedford Light 

 

A research project that would have studied how New England offshore wind projects affect commercial fish species is now dead in the water. 

The canceled study, which would have employed New Bedford fishermen, is one casualty of $7.5 billion in clean-energy funding cuts in mostly Democrat-led states, announced last week by the Department of Energy.

Coonamessett Farm Foundation, a Falmouth-based scientific research nonprofit, was awarded $3.5 million by the Energy Department in 2021 to survey commercial fish species in wind farm areas before, during and after construction. The surveys, which were scheduled to begin this year, would have helped fill large information gaps on how wind farms on the Atlantic Coast could affect fished species.

Wind developers already collect this type of data (to varying degrees), but the companies largely keep the data private. The project would have published open-source data, and would have paid a handful of fishermen — most from New Bedford — to assist in the project by towing or deploying specialized survey equipment through the waters in and around the wind leases. 

Liese Siemann, a senior research biologist and the lead investigator for the project, said it’s “ironic” the federal government terminated a project that could have provided information to fishermen, a group that’s been vociferous in its concerns about offshore wind. Many local fishermen supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 election because of his opposition to the wind industry. 

“The logic of canceling this project that would answer questions [fishermen] have and support a community [the administration] wants to support kind of escapes me,” said Siemann. “We’re not promoting offshore wind; we’re collecting data about offshore wind and trying to better understand potential impacts.”