Control measures for preventing mould in jam

Morning all

Thanks for having me in the forum.  My name is Jules and I run a small jam and chutney business.  Until recently this was made all from home but we now have a commercial unit based on our family farm.  I use traditional methods.  Open pan cooking, small batches and only natural preservatives.

I have run the business for 10 years with very little issue, however, we are having problems with several batches of jam / jelly all made within the space of a month of eachother.

They are not all the same product - some apricot (low sugar), strawberry, apple & chilli jelly and raspberry (low sugar).  All packaged in different sizes, some jars, some food grade catering pails.

The only ingredient they all contain is sugar - this I use in single 1kg packs.

I have read another thread on mould in jam and I believe that it has been caused by :

1 :  The environment - we were very busy, working late and the weather was unusually changeable, it was very humid in the kitchen.

2 :  Our filling process..  Jam is hot filled in jars.  Jelly has a slightly longer process and has cooled a little.  Food grade catering pails have cooled too otherwise they create condensation inside the lids and that spoils the product.

3. Pectin.  We have recently changed our jelly recipe to include pectin.  I removed jars of Apple & Chilli Jelly from a customer.  This made with pectin had spoiled and those without hadn't, however those without were made earlier in the year.

Any information on how to test the products to find out what has caused the issue would be great please?

Does anyone have any information on how to hot fill a larger, plastic, catering pail, please?

How can I test the environment for mould in general?

I need to change my processes / HACCP and provide an explanation to my customers.

Thanks so much for your help.

Jules

Hi jules

Your surrounding conditions are humid ,this is causing the mould formation in jams.

corrective actions 

1. Cooking of pulps/fruits prior to jam making seperately

2. Seal the lids immediate after filling  &  filled jars to be kept inverted after sealing .

3. Add pectin solution during startup of process not at 65 % brix , (might be pectin is containing high microbial count)

4. Take air Count of your unit for y&m . if count are more spray the sanitizer in enviroment  of unit.

Hi Jules, Hope you are well. I bumped in to this thread via search.  Were you able to resolve the mould issue with jams? Would be really grateful if you could share your learnings. Kind Regards Ck