Mould limits in Bread

Hi everyone,

Long time user of the forum first time poster.

I am looking to find out what the standard microbiological limits of mould are for bread products?

I have all the data already for pathogens in relation to levels of safety but cannot find any information on moulds. I have trawled through all the topics.

Thanks 

As far as I am aware here are no legal standards for this as it's a quality not food safety issue:

These are the last figures I had when I worked in the bread industry:

Microbiological Testing Specification (start of life)

                                                      Target                Unacceptable                    Frequency

Bacillus spp                                 <10/g                     >100/g                             Survey

Yeasts & Moulds                        <100/g                  >1 x 10³/g                        Survey

S.aureus                                        <20/g                      >100/g                          Survey

​However it does very much depend on your environment, formulation & declared product shelf life  because, unless you have a controlled atmosphere (most bakeries don't) you might give yourself unnecessarily strict standards.

​You could use micro testing to establish your standard but as bread is quite cheap & testing is quite expensive (and doesn't test the entire loaf) observation works best as a first pass.... so, take 100 packed loaves (or packs) from your line and retain half at room temperature ie. 20oC & half at 25oC (most customer's kitchens are warmer than 20oC so both incubation temperatures are required) and visually check daily, over 6 days for signs of mould development.  Mould development will start to be visually apparent from day 3 & by day 5/6 you can tell how many (%) are going to be affected at each temperature.  The exercise should be repeated at least 3 times (UK retailer standard).

In my experience although the standard is supposed to be "mould free" at end of life usually incidence is about 1%  - especially in summer where there are more atmospheric spores & growth proceeds at a faster rate.

Hi everyone,

Long time user of the forum first time poster.

 

I am looking to find out what the standard microbiological limits of mould are for bread products?

I have all the data already for pathogens in relation to levels of safety but cannot find any information on moulds. I have trawled through all the topics.

 

Thanks 

2 choices from google -

Welsh Bread specs.pdf   86.02KB   81 downloads

GSO micro specs inc. bread.pdf   750.39KB   90 downloads