Cheese Penicillium

Doing a project at the science center to show kids how fungus effects the foods we eat in good and bad ways. This is a good way, this is P. camemberti, a mold used in cheese making. This colony has completely covered a slice of Brie. It leaves a thing, white crust on the outside of the cheese. Used to create the buttery texture of the cheese but too much can have a bitter taste. This mold is toxic, producing cyclopiazonic acid, but the severity depends on the strain and temperature the cutlure is grown in.