Question

Mother tells Manas to always cover the bread and place it in the fridge instead of leaving it unwrapped on the table. Why? What harm would it cause if the bread is kept unwrapped. What lesson do we obtain from the same?

Answer 1

Spores of saprophytic fungi roaming in the air, settle over exposed food articles. grow there and spoil the food. Exposed bread is an ideal substratum for Rhizopus (Bread Mould) to settle, grow and form mycelia over the same. This not only spoils the bread but also makes it toxic. Therefore, the mother was directing Manas to wrap the bread and keep it in fridge. In fridge, the temperature being low the few spores even if settled over bread, will not be able to grow.

Values. (i) No food article should be kept exposed.

(ii) We should not eat exposed food articles from vendors as they are likely to be contaminated by flies, dust and air borne saprophytes and pathogens.

(iii) Shelf life of food article increases by keeping it in fridge as its low temperature reduces the activity of microbes and enzymes.