Why is mould important to the food industry

These materials, specifically lids, caps, cardboard, plastics, may contain environmental yeast and mold spores, which can contaminate your product. As noted in some of the points above, a wide range of different foods can be spoiled by yeast and mold including, but not limited to: fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, beans, cereals, meat and dairy products, flour, pasta, bakery products, jams and preserves, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, confectionary, canned acid foods, cheeses and processed meats.

When developing new products, or modifying processing or packaging systems, keep these points in mind and evaluate how processing changes could allow fungi growth and affect the overall quality of your finished product. Your email address will not be published.

Related Post. Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Follow On Social Media. At the end of the fermentation process the spores are harvested, formulated and packed and preserved in frozen or powder form. Three main types of cheese rely on moulds for their characteristic properties: blue cheese, soft ripened cheese and rind-washed cheese. To make blue cheese, the cheese is treated with a mould, usually Penicillium roqueforti, while it is still in the loosely pressed curd form.

As the cheese matures, the mould grows, creating blue veins within it which gives the cheese its characteristic flavour. Examples include Stilton, Roquefort and Gorgonzola. Soft ripened cheese such as Brie and Camembert are made by allowing Penicillium camemberti to grow on the outside of the cheese, which causes them to age from the outside in. The mould forms a soft white crust, and the interior becomes runny with a strong flavour.

Yeast and mold can grow throughout a very broad pH range, from about pH 2 to above pH 9. As with pH, this broad growth temperature range helps explain why yeast and mold can grow and cause spoilage in a wide variety of products. They will out-compete common bacteria under the harsh growth conditions of limited moisture and extreme pH. When developing new products, or modifying processing or packaging systems, keep these points in mind and evaluate how processing changes could allow fungi growth and affect the overall quality of your finished product.

As seen above, fungi can survive and grow in a variety of products and ingredients. Your email address will not be published. Cookies used for the essential operation of the site have already been set. To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, see our privacy policy. Search FTB Enter search term Follow us.