A food blogger urged her followers to check their fruit for mold after she says she accidentally bought moldy dates at Costco.
The nine-second video was uploaded by TikTok user Dena (@homefoodez). In the clip, the content creator holds a date in her hand. When she squeezes the shriveled fruit, a smoke-like substance flowed out of it. Dena urged her followers in the text overlay to “always check your dates to see if there’s mold!” She claims all of the dates she purchased from Costco contained mold in them.
@homefoodez Just because they look fresh its not good! Check your dates people! #fyp #ramadan #dates ♬ original sound – Dena
The Daily Dot reached out to Dena via email, TikTok comment, direct message, and Costco via media relations form. The video amassed 6.9 million views as of Monday, where many viewers claimed the fruit no longer sounded appealing to them.
“I will never be eating dates again,” one viewer wrote.
“New fear unlocked–thanks,” a second stated.
“Omg that’s horrifying,” a third agreed.
Some claimed that Costco was known to have moldy fruit.
“Costco dates always have mold, we stopped buying from there,” one user stated.
“Don’t buy fruit from Costco, all bad from the jump,” a second recommended.
“Them Costco raspberries be hella moldy too,” a third commented.
Others shared experiences with eating a moldy date.
“This happened to me too and I ate one without checking. Never eating dates again,” one person shared.
“My dad was hospitalized with the mold in these from costco. plz be careful,” a second revealed.
“My sis ate a whole pack then noticed maggots,” a third remarked.
What are the signs of an expired date? According to Kitchn, the three telltale signs are if they’re discolored or moldy, they smell bad, or if there are “visitors” inside them.
“If you notice that dates have developed mold or turned much darker in color, on the exterior or interior, it’s best to toss them,” the article states. “If you detect a strong, off-putting, or rotten odor, take this as a sign that your dates have gone bad and it’s time to toss them. A potential indicator of pests is small, brown specks that sort of look like sawdust.”
Update April 20, 9:37am CT: During an interview with the Daily Dot, Dena shared that she bought the dates from a Costco location in Avon, Ohio. She explained how she discovered the mold.
“So every morning, my four year old son loves eating dates. The first two I cut into were completely white. They didn’t look good so I threw them out. The third one had black dust around, so ‘I thought if I squeeze it maybe something would come out?’ I cut into it, and it was filled with black mold,” she told the Daily Dot via email.
Even her husband got sick from eating one of the dates after breaking his fast for Ramadan. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Dena encountered moldy dates. However, this is the first time the entire batch was contaminated. Regardless of the incident, she still shops at Costco but won’t buy the Mejdool dates again.
