Effects of Moisture on Mold Growth

Introduction

Molds are fungi, and they appear on many different surfaces, including roofs, windows, pipes, and

even food. Since 1969, fungi have had their own separate kingdom apart from plants and animals, and there

are around 100,000 species of fungi that have been discovered (FSEC Energy Research Center 2001). Mold

feeds on dead or decaying matter, and they reproduce through mold spores (FSEC Energy Research Center

2001). Mold spores are microscopic cells that act like seeds in the air, releasing and spreading mold colonies,

which then grow other branches or fungi and produce spores of their own (Virginia Tech 2009). Mold spores

are anywhere and everywhere and cannot be reasonably eliminated from any environment. In addition to

being populous, mold can also grow on any surface that has carbon atoms and enough nutrients to sustain

growth (FSEC Energy Research Center 2001). More specifically, mold is found in foods such as bread,

cheese, meat, fruit and vegetables (Sciencing 2018). This is because those foods are usually at the correct

temperature and moisture level for mold to grow efficiently.

Although it may seem that mold can easily grow anywhere, mold can only grow under specific

conditions such as temperature, moisture, and air quality (Sciencing 2018). Since there are always places

mold can grow, available food for mold growth usually isn’t a factor in any given environment. This makes

temperature, air quality, and most importantly moisture the key to controlling mold growth, especially

indoors (EPA 2020). Most mold grows best at around 70% humidity, which is well below the humidity level

that most humans prefer (FSEC Energy Research Center 2001). Additionally, humidity and access to water is

the easiest variable to control in a given environment, making moisture levels the easiest way to control mold

growth. The purpose of the experiment was to determine how moisture levels affect the growth of mold on

different foods over time.

It was hypothesized that if water was added to different foods, then the foods with added water would

grow more mold than the foods without added water, because moisture causes mold to grow at an accelerated

rate since moisture provides a consistent source of nutrients and food (EPA 2020).
 This study is relevant because mold is potentially dangerous and can cause sickness when eaten.

Although some molds are harmless and some even desirable, some mold creates aflatoxins and mycotoxins

which make people sick when eaten (Sciencing 2018). In addition, mold grows inside food as well as on the

surface, so simply cutting the mold out of the food would not prevent mold from harming the body

(Sciencing 2018). This study hopes to show how mold grows with added moisture as well as provide a time

frame for how the rate of mold growth changes which would help avoid harmful consumption of spoiled

food.

Methodology

To start, the different foods were gathered. Two slices of white, organic bread, two bell peppers, two

pieces of cheese, and two oranges were required for each trial. In order to be consistent, each food was of

similar size, shape, and type as the other foods of its kind. One of each type of food was kept dry and no

water was added to them (control group), while the other set of foods had two sprays of water added to them

every two weeks (experimental group). Each piece of food was set in a different plastic bag to contain the

moisture and make sure it feeds the mold instead of evaporating. Mold growth was measured through surface

area. Every day, a grid of 1x1 cm squares was laid on top of the foods to measure how much mold was

present. This works because each 1x1 square allows the total amount of mold on the food to be quantified,

counted, and measured. This was done on the front, back, and sides of the foods in order to measure the total

surface area. Our independent variable was the amount of water added, while the dependent variable was the

amount of mold on each of the foods. This process was repeated once more in order to have two trials worth

of data.
Figure 1: Image of Experimental Design

Figure 1: Image of Experimental Design: EAach food was placed in a labeled bag to contain the moisture.
Once every two weeks, two squirts of water from a spray bottle were added to each of the experimental bags.
This is a picture of the first day of testing in which no mold was grown.

Results:

The aim of this experiment is to compare the different rates of mold growth on wet foods versus dry

foods. This is done by comparing the surface area of mold on each wet and dry variant of a specific food.

Data of the surface area were recorded daily in order to determine the rates in which mold grew on each

food. The table and figure below show the average surface area in which mold grew on each wet and dry

variant of the bread, pepper, cheese and orange over the course of twenty one days.
Table 1: Different Rates of Mold Growth Between Wet and Dry Foods

Table 1, Mold Growth Rate: Values shown indicate the average surface area in millimeters that the mold
covered on each food each day over the course of 21 days.
Figure 2: Different Rates of Mold Growth Between Wet and Dry Foods

Figure 2, Mold Growth Rate: The mold’s surface area on wet foods not only began to increase before those
of dry foods but also were drastically higher than the surface area of dry foods. On top of that the standard
error for the wet orange is very high due substantial differences in both trials. Values indicate the average
surface area of mold on wet and dry variants of four foods over the course of 21 days for two trials. Error
bars represent standard error values.
Figure 3: Cheese Experimental and Control Groups

Figure 3: Cheese Experimental and Control Groups: These are pictures of the experimental group (right)
and control group (left) for mold growth on cheese after two weeks. As shown, the cheese with added
moisture has far more mold than the control. Additionally, the experimental cheese had a combination of
white, green, and black mold, while the control cheese had only black mold and small bits of white mold.

Over the course of 21 days mold begins to grow on both the wet and dry variants of both cheese and

brand. As figure 2 shows, the growth rate of mold on the wet variants of cheese and bread were significantly

greater than those of their dry variants. According to table 1, the wet cheese began growing mold on day 2

covering 0.5cm2 +- 0.5 and it’s dry variant began to grow mold on day 11 covering 0.5cm2 +- 0.5. Table 1

shows the wet bread first having mold on day 9 with 0.5cm2 +- 0.5 and the dry bread not showing any mold.

However the results for the pepper and orange have too great of a standard error to support this pattern.

Discussion

It was hypothesized that if water was added to different foods, then the foods with added water would

grow more mold than the foods without added water, because moisture causes mold to grow at an accelerated

rate since water provides a consistent source of nutrients and food for mold (EPA 2020). This claim was

supported by the experiment, because the experimental groups produced far more mold than the control

groups.
 This hypothesis is supported by the data obtained from recording the surface area of mold on wet and

dry variants of bread, pepper, cheese, and oranges. For example, on day 21, the surface area of mold on wet

cheese was 46.5cm2 +- 7.5(table 1). But it’s dry variant had mold with a surface area of 13.25cm2 +- 3.25

(table 1). This pattern is also seen on day 21 where the bread had mold with the surface area of 28cm2 +- 3

on its wet variant and 0cm2 +- 0 (table 1) on it’s dry variant. The data collected from growing mold on the

pepper and orange both have a too large standard error which means that the data can neither support or

reject the claim. This standard error is due to having mold be grown in one trial and not the other, therefore

being unrelated to whether or not mold grows faster on wet foods or dry foods.

In this experiment the mold was able to increase in surface area as a result of the mold creating spores

that would travel through the air and release mold colonies which would create spores themselves (Virginia

Tech 2009). The rates in which this process occurred varied between wet and dry foods as a result of the

differend molds having varying access to nutrients, carbon atoms, and water. Which are all absorbed by mold

in order to have the energy to go through its life cycle (FSEC Energy Research Center 2001). Because water

is mold's main source of energy, the wet variant of the foods were able to produce more mold than its

counterparts. This is why both variants of cheese grew more mold than both variants of bread. As a result of

the cheese’s composition being made up of more water, it was able to produce more energy which helped the

mold grow.

The reason why the data collected from the peppers and oranges do not support or reject the claim is

because one trial was successful in having mold grow and the other having failed in growing mold. The

reason why the mold did not grow could be because the temperature was too low, did not contain enough

moisture, or the air quality was inadequate (Sciencing 2018).

Some sources of error within the experiment include the variance in temperature when the mold was

in the bag. Although each group in the experiment was kept at the same spot, the temperature still varied

from day to day. A way to fix this problem and improve on this experiment would be to put each group in a

temperature controlled chamber, to make sure the temperature is consistent throughout the duration of the

experiment. Another source of error within the experiment was how preservatives within the food and the
water could have prevented the growth of mold. All the food for the experiment was bought from the store,

and the water added to the experimental groups was tap water. Both the water and food could have contained

preservatives that prevent the growth of mold, which would have skewed the data. A simple way to improve

on this experiment would be to make bread from scratch and use spring water/bottled water in order to

eliminate any preservatives.

This experiment can also be expanded upon in many ways. One future experiment could be to change

the temperature of the foods’ environment, instead of testing moisture. Also moisture is a large factor in

determining mold growth, temperature also can affect how fast mold grows. Additionally, the type of mold

grown on each of the food could be further experimented with. Determining what the different colors of

mold on the foods mean, and which molds are harmful to the human body would help increase the

understanding of mold growth on food. It can be said that the addition of moisture quickens the growth of

mold due to the experiment, but that also raises the question of how much moisture mold needs to grow. One

future experiment could change the amount of spray of water (moisture level) on different slices of bread, to

determine how much moisture is too little and how much moisture is too much.

This experiment has many important implications in the real world. As seen in the experiment, mold

did not grow in any of the control groups for the first three days, meaning food continues to be edible, even if

it is left out for a day or two. Mold growth also plays an important role in agriculture. While mold can affect

tomato, potato, bean, and cabbage plants, which can make them rot within the soil as well as in storage

(UMass 2016). If moisture in fields and in storage can be controlled, mold can be prevented from growing on

the food. Additionally, harvesting the vegetables in a timely manner can help prevent the food from rotting

and becoming inedible (UMass 2016).

In conclusion, an experiment was created using the scientific process to test how moisture affects the

growth of mold. The data implies that additional moisture in the environment stimulates the growth of mold,

since the water provides a strong source of nutrients and food for the mold to grow.
References

G. Higgins. October 2016. White Mold. UMassAmherst.

https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/fact-sheets/white-mold

Philip Fairey, Subrato Chandra, Neil Moyer. Mold Growth. FSEC Energy Research Center.

https://energyresearch.ucf.edu/consumer/buildings/building-science-basics/mold-growth/

Carmen García y Santos, Lina Bettucci, Sebastián Brambillasca, Cecilia Cajarville. Storage time and

condensed tannin content of high-moisture sorghum grains: Effects on in vitro fermentation and mold

populations. Animal Nutrition. Vol 6, no. 1, pp. 92-97. 10.1016/j.aninu.2019.08.002

Nicholette Zelaidt. June 30, 2010. Midlatitude Mildew: Indoor Mold Growth Is Influenced More by Location

Than Building Type. Scientific American.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indoor-mold-growth-is-influenced-more-by-location-than-by-buil

ding-type/

Martyny, J., Harbeck, R., Pacheco, K., Barker, E., Sills, M., Silveira, L., . . . Newman, L. (2005, August 08).

Aerosolized sodium hypochlorite inhibits viability and allergenicity of mold on building materials. Retrieved

February 20, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091674905013035

ML. Abarca, M., M. Atanassova, Y., TP. Beresford, N., T. Bintsis, P., BM. Borelli, E., F. Bourdichon, S., . . .

M-T. Wyder, Z. (1994, January 01). Diversity of yeast and MOLD species from a variety of CHEESE

TYPES. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00284-015-0790-1

Mold course chapter 1:. (2021, January 06). Retrieved February 20, 2021, from

https://www.epa.gov/mold/mold-course-chapter-1#Chapter1Lesson1
Lauren Farelly. March 13, 2018. How Does Mold Grow on Food?. Sciencing.

https://sciencing.com/why-does-mold-grow-food-4966797.html

June 18, 2020. The Life Cycle of Mold and How it Grows. Fiber Control Inc.

https://fibercontrolinc.com/the-life-cycle-of-mold-and-how-it-grows#:~:text=The%20life%20cycle%20of%2

0mold%20comes%20in%20four%20stages%3A%20hyphae,stages%20at%20an%20alarming%20rate.

Kathleen Parrott. May 1, 2009. Mold Basics. Virginia Cooperative Extension.

https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/2901/2901-7019/2901-7019.html