Formulating a Farewell to Mold
Recently we received a frantic call from the owner of a specialty bakery who had just introduced a product in Walmart that was so popular, it was practically “falling off the shelves.” But two weeks into the rollout complaints started rolling in. The product was developing mold and suddenly he was forced to withdraw it from the market.
As it turns out, the bakery product in question faced two challenges: it had high moisture content; and, the preservative used was killing the yeast and clearly not suitable as an effective mold inhibitor.
Within 24 hours Maxx shipped an off-the-shelf acidulant that we knew would resolve these issues. It was added to the formulation and put under accelerated shelf life study. And two weeks later, the customer called to say that not only was he seeing extended shelf life, but the volume of his material was bigger and the texture was better, too.
In the end, the bakery owner retained his account with Walmart and opened up regional distribution for his blockbuster baked goods. And that’s the power of microencapsulates over mold!