Why does store-bought bread quickly become moldy and not stale?

The quality of bread is determined by many parameters, taking into account various indicators. Most of them are known only to specialists. Ordinary customers are perplexed why bread from the store becomes moldy, although it seems to be stale.

Is it due to improper storage?

Manufacturers claim that baked goods become moldy due to improper storage. The population buys food in plastic bags and stores it in them. Favorable conditions are created for the development of mold. Heat is another reason for the rapid appearance of characteristic white and gray-green spots on the crust and cut of flour products.

Experts from Roskontrol found that mold spores land on the surface of bread after baking - during laying, cooling and transportation. Microbes are present in the air of bakery shops and settle on equipment, containers, and workers’ clothing.

The rate of spore germination and mold formation depends on the following reasons:

• technology, method of preparation (accelerated, sourdough, straight, sponge);
• recipes, acidity, mode of preparation of bakery products;
• the presence of special treatment with microwave rays or other methods;
• storage conditions.

Experts say that rapid spoilage of bread products is not related to the quality of grain and yeast. Baking occurs at a temperature of about 245°C, and the spores die when heated to 80°C.

High-quality bread should mold

Under normal conditions, wheat bread becomes covered with a white-gray coating on the fourth to sixth day. Products made from rye or a mixture of two types of flour - on the sixth to eighth day. Bread with higher acidity is more resistant to fungi. Rye may not become moldy for more than 8 days.

If baked goods do not mold for a long time, it means they contain acidifying microbiological additives. Iodized salt and whey in products also retard the development of fungus.

Adding bran, rice flour, oats, buckwheat, fruit or vegetable powders, on the contrary, accelerates the growth of mold.

The most unpleasant reason for buyers is that The technology allows for the addition of soaked stale bread into the dough during production, which is not sold in stores. Products moving from the bakery to the store and back are covered with a large number of fungal spores. The likelihood of them getting on fresh flour products increases.

The appearance of mold on modern bread does not necessarily mean that the technology was violated during its production. Storing in a plastic bag in a warm room is a sufficient condition for the growth of fungal spores.

Is mold dangerous?

The fungus is visible on the surface of the bread in the form of a plaque. However, the mycelium penetrates and infects the entire loaf. Cutting off the crust with mold spots does not save the bread from further spoilage. Eating such a product is dangerous: it is contaminated with toxins.

Mold spores are invisible, but are present everywhere - on packaging, knives, in the bread bin. The air contains fungi and bacteria, but isolating the bread in a plastic bag will not help get rid of them. Bakery products are initially contaminated with mold; only in the first days after purchase is its growth still unnoticeable.

Under favorable conditions - warm, high humidity - spores germinate quickly. Threads penetrate inside the bread, through which the outer part of the fungus receives nutrients. The upper dark part of mold spots is a cluster of many new maturing spores.

Recommendations:

• Bread should be stored in a paper bag, which can be placed in a loosely closed plastic bag.
• To get rid of mold, you need to wash the bread box once a week with water and vinegar. The same treatment is needed for knives and tabletops.
• It is better to keep the bread in the refrigerator, then it does not mold, but becomes stale, but slowly.

A decrease in temperature causes a slowdown in spore germination and mycelium development. The microscopic pest becomes inactive, does not grow or reproduce. In this way you can save bread from the store from mold. But the best option is to buy as much as you can eat in a couple of days.