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Question

A bread kept in a cupboard for a week develops grayish-black dots on its surface. What may be these dots? Why do they grow on bread?

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Solution

Black, blue, or green fuzz growing on the top of the bread you put in your cupboard a few days ago. That fuzz is mold.

Mold is a member of the fungi family, which is a separate categorization from plants and animals. Possibly the most well-known member of the fungi family is mushrooms.

Fungi is defined as a plant without chlorophyll, which means it cannot get energy directly from the sun as other plants can. This means that fungi must use other plants and animals as its food source.

Although mold can grow on many types of foods, mold on bread is common because bread provides a very desirable source of nutrients for mold. It’s often kept in a warm area of your home – a cupboard or breadbox rather than the refrigerator. It’s moist. And mold likes the ingredients in bread.

Although you cannot see them, there are millions of mold spores in the air around you. These spores then settle on the bread in your cupboard and start to multiply. Mold on bread reproduces as long as there is a food source. Sometimes mold reproduces very rapidly – mold can sometimes double in size in an hour.


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