Mold in gummies
Hello All,
I had a question to present to the forum. Has anyone ever seen white cobweb-like residue on gelatin gummies before? The instinct is to say that it is mold, but we made an attempt to test and grow mold through incubation and it did not grow. Has anyone come across this in their experience on what this could be? We control water activity throughout processing. Could it be a formula issue? These are vitamins, for context. We have made several different gummy products and have never seen this issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Would it be possible to post a picture? Sometimes simply taking a sample and re-growing microorganisms on a new media can be more difficult that you'd think. Instead of IDing it as mold by re-growing it, is it possible to get a sample of it under a microscope to examine its structure? If you're familiar with what molds look like microscopically, you may be able to ID it that way.
I don't have a lot of experience with gummies, but are you using a new gelling agent for this product? I wonder if it's possible for the gelling agent itself to become whipped into a web-like material via your process.
It may be the sugar as well, too hot and it may have turned into cotton candy like material when deposited....
Thank you for the feedback. We use a standard gelling agent such as bovine gelatin and have never seen this before. We have not observed this in shelf life studies either and those have been conducted on multiple lots over two years. I can't share pictures just yet, but some initial thinking is maybe sugar buildup, calcium precipitate, food starch, or the carnauba wax used to polish. Thank you.
Hello All,
I had a question to present to the forum. Has anyone ever seen white cobweb-like residue on gelatin gummies before? ...
What is the context it is being observed in? Finished goods six months after pack? What kind of packaging? What kind of seal integrity testing is done?
How much is there? Looks like its packed in cotton balls, or just a few strands? The later could be FM from hot plastics or adhesives in packaging.
It is being observed in retains (beyond 18 months expiration) and before expiration (around the 16 months mark). They are packed in Clear PET bottles with limited headspace. There is not much in the testing of the seal integrity outside of verification during in-process that the seal is adhered properly.
They look like strands throughout and maybe looks like one cotton ball on the bottom. Some additional feedback is that we know there is some off-gassing from the vitamin C within the bottle which has caused the seal to convex over time and eventually concave. There is some correlation there. One thought is osmophilic mold, but I don't know much abut that or where it could come from. Thank you.
Have you tested the water activity of the gummies? It doesn't sound like a place that easily grows mold when the production process is properly adhered to.