Once molds become damp they grow and sporalate, releasing new spores that grow into molds. Any bruising on fresh produce becomes an ideal place for mold spores to grow and sporalate. Taking control of molds means cleaning molds immediately from produce and preventing recontamination inside the processing facility from your air. Molds in untreated air exceed 1,000’s to 100,000’s colony forming units per cubic foot.

The challenge for molds is that they are everywhere: On the fresh product and in the air. Molds in untreated air exceed 1,000’s to 100,000’s colony forming units per cubic foot. Generally, the dry tough skin on fresh, living, produce keeps molds under control. The result is fresh harvested produce is covered with inactive molds (mold spores) and continuously exposed to new contamination from air.

Once fresh product is harvested molds only need moisture to become active. In an interesting turn around, a rough skin can harbor molds on harvested product. Any bruising on fresh produce becomes an ideal place for mold spores to grow and sporalate. Once molds become damp they grow and sporalate, releasing new spores that grow into molds

Taking control of molds means cleaning molds immediately from produce and preventing recontamination from the air. Traditional treatment includes fungicides to reduce mold growth. But molds have built up resistance to fungicides requiring drenching and soaking and individual pieces of fresh produce that have been damaged during harvest and packing mold and sporalate regardless. For citrus, apples, some vegetables and melons washing is a partial answer but subsequent mold proliferation is a significant problem. For berries washing is not an option because of their delicate structures and subsequent mold proliferation.

The best method to prevent post harvest spoilage is to eliminate as many molds as possible. While seemingly an impossible task, the treatment of fresh produce and facility air with ozone gas is one the most promising mold controls. Ozone gas literally burns active molds to death in milliseconds. The trick is to get spores to begin growing.