Bread: Mold Contamination

Mold is a term commonly employed to characterize the fuzzy growth that emerges on damp or decaying organic matter due to fungal proliferation. This growth of mold can lead to diverse types of food spoilage, encompassing off-flavors, toxins, discoloration, rot, and the generation of pathogenic or allergenic spores.

The majority of molds are acknowledged as saprotrophs, reproducing by releasing spores that settle on decomposing organic material. They acquire nutrients by utilizing digestive enzymes to break down large molecules into smaller components before absorbing them.

An estimated 1-5% of bread production is thought to be impacted by fungal activity. In the context of bread, the contamination by mold not only induces changes in color and taste but also results in a deterioration of food quality due to the potential formation of mycotoxins.

The color of mold on bread can range from white, golden yellow to green-gray, depending on the species and the extent of sporulation.

Molds require moisture to thrive and typically disseminate spores in damp or moist settings. In general, most molds thrive in conditions with high water potential (aw values > 0.8), whereas a few xerophilic molds prefer to grow at lower aw values, dropping as far as 0.65.

The manifestation of moldiness is linked to external contamination of bread after the baking process, as the spores present in flour during a standard technological process lack favorable conditions for multiplication and are eliminated during baking.

Bread contamination with molds may occur during transportation, cooling, storage, or optional cutting and packing procedures.

Molds, mold spores, and mold fragments can negatively impact an individual's health, causing minor irritations such as a runny nose or itchy, watery eyes, and progressing to more severe health issues like breathing difficulties, asthma attacks, infections, fever, and notable skin irritations.
Bread: Mold Contamination

Bread spoilage by mould

Mouldiness is one of the most common microbiological defects, found in bakery industry. It is estimated that approximately 1-5% of the bread production goes wrong due to fungi activity. Referring to bread, mold contamination determines not only changes in color, taste, but also loss of the food quality as a result of possible formation of mycotoxins.

Pin mold or Gray mold or Bread mold usually causes the molding of bread stored in a moist place. It is also occurs frequently on fruits and may appear as “whiskers” or peaches, grapes and other fruits shipped long distances in boxes.

Bread moulds need a food source to grow and survive. Mold is a fungus that requires other living organisms to get the energy to grow since it doesn't produce its own food the way plants do, for example. The ingredients present in bread serve as the food source for the growth of bread moulds. Essentially, anything that contains carbon atoms provides the nutrients necessary for moulds to grow and thrive.

Bread mouldiness occurs when the bread is stored under high relative humidity and high relative temperature. The colour of molds that grow on bread varies from white, golden yellow to green-gray, depending on the species and the degree of sporulation.

Contamination by moulds can be prevented by irradiating the goods with infrared rays or microwaves, by using modified atmospheres during packaging, or by adding chemical preservatives such as propionic acid. The maximal concentration of propionate that is allowed for packaged sliced breads by the Argentine Alimentary Code (AAC) is 0.4% (wt/wt). Most bakeries in the country used this upper limit concentration for the conservation of bread.
Bread spoilage by mould