The other day, my hubs bought a pack of expensive Emborg Dutch Gouda cheese. After eating just a couple of slices, I noticed small spots of greyish mold sprouting out on the sides of the cheese. I was horrified as I had just eaten a slice of the cheese. That evening, we returned it to the mini mart where we bought it from and got a replacement pack. Before I took the new pack of cheese home, I scrutinized the cheese and did not see any mold. The next day and 1 slice of cheese eaten, again I noticed tiny spots of hairy mold sprouting out on the cheese. And again off we went to the mini mart to show the moldy cheese to the shop keeper. This time, I took another type of cheese – Cheddar cheese but of the same brand. Thankfully, there was no mold this time round. My hubs and I ate the cheddar cheese slice everyday to quickly finish off the pack, for fear of mold sprouting again. After these 2 incidents, we vowed never to buy Emborg Gouda cheese again.

The question I have in mind is, is mold on cheese harmful if eaten? After all, cheese is a fermented food. I did a google search and found this information:

The cheese you buy in the store probably had mold on it at one time before it was packaged. As cheese ages or ripens, mold grows on the outside just as it does at your house or mine. Aged cheese is allowed to mold naturally. It is what gives cheese that sharp taste and if you eat blue cheese, the blue part is mold. If you get mold on your cheese block, just cut off a thin layer of cheese till the mold is gone and throw the moldy part in the trash. If you get mold on shredded cheese, its a total loss because its impossible to get that mold off. If you eat the mold, it isn’t harmful, just don’t eat a lot of it. This same mold on cheese is where the drug penicillin (an antibiotic) was formed from.
The answer is: not dangerous at all.

However according to The University of Missouri Extension “If the surface is moldy, scraping it off does not make it safe. While some molds are not harmful on cheese, there are types of mold that produce a toxin (a type of poison) that may cause serious health problems. Even if mold growth is just starting to appear, the amount of growth below the surface could be enough to be dangerous. Cheese showing mold growth should be discarded or returned to the distributor. No one should ever sniff mold because of the possibility of sending mold spores into the respiratory tract and perhaps causing serious illness. This is especially important for individuals who are allergic to mold because it could cause a severe reaction. ”
The answer is: It’s possible and not worth the risk.

Who has a more definite answer on whether it is safe to eat cheese that has turned moldy but with the molds scraped off?