2. The Question:
Does organic food mold faster
than non-organic food?
Does organic
apples, bread,
bananas, baby
food, or potatoes
mold faster than
non-organic
bread, bananas,
baby food and
potatoes?
3. RECENTLY, WE HAVE BEEN TRYING
TO EAT MORE ORGANIC FOODS DUE
TO THE FACT WE SUPPORT LOCAL
FOOD OWNERS. BUT AS WE WERE
BUYING ORGANIC FOODS THAT WE
NORMALLY BUY NON-ORGANIC, WE
WERE WONDERING IF THE FOOD
BEING “MORE HEALTHY” AND
ORGANIC IF IT WOULD LAST LONGER
AS WELL.
Origin of the Question
4. Hypothesis Reason for Hypothesis
We predict that there will
be no change in whether
or not the food is organic
or non- organic, the food
will mold at the same
rate or equally.
We predict this because
even though the organic
foods do not have all of
the preservatives in it, it
is still food and will more
than likely spoil and
grow mold at the same
rate.
5. WE WILL BUY THREE OF EACH
ORGANIC AND NON-ORGANIC FOODS
(APPLES, BREAD, BANANAS, BABY
FOOD, AND POTATOES).
Procedures
6. WE WILL CUT EACH ORGANIC
AND NON ORGANIC FOOD
INTO SLICES AND PLACE
THREE SLICES OF EACH IN
PLASTIC BAGGIES.
Procedures continued..
7. FOR THE BABY
FOOD WE WILL
PLACE TWO
TABLESPOONS
INTO A PLASTIC
BAGGIE.
Continued..
8. WE WILL LABEL
EACH FOOD
ORGANIC AND
NON ORGANIC SO
THAT WE WILL
NOT GET THE TWO
CONFUSED
Continued..
9. WE WILL OBSERVE THE
CHANGES IN THESE FOODS OVER
A PERIOD OF THREE WEEKS AND
RECORD DATA AT THE END OF
EACH WEEK.
9/24
10/1
10/8
Continued…
11. WHETHER OR
NOT MOLD GREW
OR APPEARED ON
THE FOOD
SERVES AS THE
DEPENDENT
VARIABLE.
Dependant Variable
12. •O R G A N I C F O O D S A R E M A D E I N A W A Y T H A T C O M P L I E S
W I T H O R G A N I C S T A N D A R D S S E T B Y N A T I O N A L
G O V E R N M E N T S A N D I N T E R N A T I O N A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N S .
( P A U L , 2 0 1 0 )
•I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S , O R G A N I C P R O D U C T I O N I S A
S Y S T E M T H A T I S M A N A G E D I N A C C O R D A N C E W I T H T H E
O R G A N I C F O O D S P R O D U C T I O N A C T ( O F P A ) O F 1 9 9 0 A N D
R E G U L A T I O N S I N T I T L E 7 , P A R T 2 0 5 O F T H E C O D E O F
F E D E R A L R E G U L A T I O N S T O R E S P O N D T O S I T E - S P E C I F I C
C O N D I T I O N S B Y I N T E G R A T I N G C U L T U R A L , B I O L O G I C A L ,
A N D M E C H A N I C A L P R A C T I C E S T H A T F O S T E R C Y C L I N G O F
R E S O U R C E S , P R O M O T E E C O L O G I C A L B A L A N C E , A N D
C O N S E R V E B I O D I V E R S I T Y . ( P A U L , 2 0 1 0 )
What is Organic?
13. O R G A N I C M E A T , P O U L T R Y , E G G S A N D
D A I R Y P R O D U C T S C O M E F R O M A N I M A L S
T H A T A R E G I V E N N O A N T I B I O T I C S O R
G R O W T H H O R M O N E S . ( E N S M I N G E R , 1 9 9 4 ) .
O R G A N I C F O O D I S P R O D U C E D W I T H O U T
U S I N G M O S T C O N V E N T I O N A L P E S T I C I D E S ,
F E R T I L I Z E R S M A D E W I T H S Y N T H E T I C
I N G R E D I E N T S O R S E W A G E S L U D G E ,
B I O E N G I N E E R I N G O R I O N I Z I N G
R A D I A T I O N . ( E N S M I N G E R , 1 9 9 4 ) .
Continued..
14. Mold; what is it?
Molds are microscopic fungi that live on plant or
animal matter. ("United states department," 2010)
Mold growth is encouraged by warm and humid
conditions. ("Centers for disease," 2010)
15. Percentages Description
0-10% covered in mold
11-30% covered in
mold
31-50% covered in
mold
51-75% covered in
mold
76-100% covered in
mold
We would observe the
food at the end of each
week and ranked the
amount of mold
growth on the food by
the scale given.
How did we measure the mold?
16. Data over 3 week Period
THE TABLE USED WILL SHOW EACH
FOOD BOTH ORGANIC AND NON
ORGANIC AND WE WILL WRITE YES
OR NO DEPENDING ON WHETHER
MOLD IS PRESENT ON THE FOOD
EACH WEEK WE WILL RECORD
DATA IN THIS WAY.
17. Apple
Organic Mold
Growth
Non-organic Mold
Growth
Week 1 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 2 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 3 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Final
18. Baby Food
Organic Mold
Growth
Non-organic Mold
Growth
Week 1 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 2 YES 0-10% of mold
growth
YES 11-30% of
mold growth
Week 3 YES 11-30% of
mold growth
YES 31-50% of
mold growth
Final
19. Bread
Organic Mold
Growth
Non-organic Mold
Growth
Week 1 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 2 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 3 YES 11-30% of
mold growth
YES 0-10% of mold
growth
Final
20. Potato
Organic Mold
Growth
Non-organic Mold
Growth
Week 1 YES 0-10% of mold
growth
NO 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 2 YES 11-30% of
mold growth
YES 31-50% of
mold growth
Week 3 YES 31-50% of
mold growth
YES 31-50% of
mold growth
Final
21. Banana
Organic Mold
Growth
Non-organic Mold
Growth
Week 1 NO 0-10% of mold
growth
YES 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 2 YES 0-10% of mold
growth
YES 0-10% of mold
growth
Week 3 YES 11-30% of
mold growth
YES 11-30% of
mold growth
Final
22. Organic Food Non- Organic Food
Apple
Banana
Bread
Baby Food
Potato
Apple
Banana
Bread
Baby Food
Potato
Mold on Foods
23. Overall Mold
on Food
• At the end of
three weeks we
found that the
Non-Organic
food did
develop more
mold overall,
just depending
on the food.
Organic Food
Non-Organic
Food
Non-organic: 54% mold growth
overall
Organic: 46 % mold growth
overall
24. Results
•From our experiment we found that there was not much
of a difference between the mold growth on organic and
non-organic foods.
•On some foods mold grew more and at a faster rate on
organic foods, and some on non-organic foods.
•The baby food and bread were the foods that had different
data at the end of three weeks. Non-organic baby food
grew more mold, but the organic bread grew more mold
than the non-organic bread.
25. Conclusion
Our original question was, does organic
food mold faster than non-organic
food? From our experiment there is no
inclination that non- organic food or
organic food grows mold faster than the
other.
26. Continued..
We came to the conclusion that mold
growth does not depend on whether or
not it is non-organic or organic, but the
type of food it is and how much
moisture is in the environment of the
food
27. •WE WONDERED IF THE AMOUNT OF MOLD GROWTH
WOULD HAVE BEEN AFFECTED IF WE LEFT THE
FOOD OUT IN THE OPEN RATHER THAN SEALED IN A
BAG?
• I WOULD LIKE TO TRY DIFFERENT FOODS, TO SEE
IF I GET THE SAME RESULTS AS WE DID IN THIS
EXPERIMENT.
• I QUESTION THE LEVEL OF ORGANIC FOOD THAT
WE BOUGHT, IF THE FOOD WOULD HAVE BEEN 100%
ORGANIC WOULD WE HAVE DIFFERENT RESULTS?
Next Steps and/or Questions
28. Claims Evidence
Being organic or non-
organic does not have
much of an influence
on mold growth,
instead it is the type of
food , and its
environment.
The potato had more
mold than any other
food, both non-organic
and organic.
31-50% of mold growth
on both the non-
organic and the organic
potato!
Claims & Evidence
29. Claims Evidence
Moisture affects the
growth of mold on
foods.
The foods that produced
the most moisture in the
baggies, grew more
mold.
The non-organic baby
food, and both of the
potatoes were the
baggies with the most
moisture and both had
31-50% of mold growth
developed.
Claims & Evidence
30. •THROUGH OUR EXPERIMENT, WE DID NOT FIND A
DIFFERENCE IN THE AMOUNT OF MOLD GROWTH IN
ORGANIC AND NON-ORGANIC FOODS.
•IN OUR RESEARCH WE FOUND THAT NON -ORGANIC
FOODS SHOULD ACTUALLY STAY FRESHER
BECAUSE OF THE PRESERVATIVES ADDED.
Reflections
31. •THERE ARE MANY OTHER FACTORS THAT DEPEND
ON HOW HEALTHY THE FOOD IS. (COMPOSITION
OF THE SOIL, THE GENETIC MAKEUP OF THE
PLANT, THE DEGREE OF MATURITY AT HARVEST &
METHODS OF HANDLING AFTER HARVEST.)
•THE RESULTS OF THIS EXPERIMENT COULD VARY
IN RESULTS IF REPEATED DEPENDING ON
WEATHER, SEASON OR OVERALL ENVIRONMENT.
Reflections
32. THIS EXPERIMENT DID NOT ANSWER OUR
ORIGINAL QUESTION, BUT DID COINCIDE
WITH OUR HYPOTHESIS THAT THERE
WOULD BE LITTLE OR NO DIFFERENCE IN
THE MOLD GROWTH ON THE TWO TYPES
OF FOODS.
Reflections
33. References
•Murdock, D. H. (Ed.). (2002). Encyclopedia of foods. San Deigo, California:
Academic Press.
•Paul, M.W. (2010, April). Organic foods: understanding organic food labels,
benefits, and claims. Retrieved from
http://www.helpguide.org/life/organic_foods_pesticides_gmo.htm
•Ensminger, A. H. (1994). Organically Grown Food. (1994). Food & nutrition.
Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
34. •UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOOD
SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE . (2010, MARCH 04).
RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://WWW.FSIS.USDA.GOV/FACTSHEETS/MOLDS_ON_F
OOD/INDEX
•CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.
(2010, FEBURARY 08). RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://WWW.CDC.GOV/MOLD/FAQS.HTM
References
