But will it still go stale or sweat or do something else to spoil the taste after a week or two?
This may force a change in the way bread is packaged to compliment the longer shelf life.
Sure, you can pack food with enough preservatives and chemicals that it doesn’t mold for months.
But a U.S.-based company has found a way to lengthen the life of bread without all the additives.
Microzap, a Texas-based company, uses a special microwave that kills the mold spores in your bread in 10 seconds. Now that bread that goes bad in 10 days will last for about 60 mold-free days. The BBC reports:
The company’s device has attracted plenty of interest from bread manufacturers - but they are worried that it could add to their costs in an industry where margins are very tight.
And there is also a concern that consumers might not take to bread that lasts for so long. Mr Stull [the company's chief executive] acknowledges it might be difficult to convince some people of the benefits. [...]
Mr Stull believes that the technology could impact bread in other ways. He said that bread manufacturers added lots of preservatives to try and fight mould, but then must add extra chemicals to mask the taste of the preservatives. If bakers were able to use the microwave technology, they would be able to avoid these additives.
It’s a technique, the company says, that has been successfully tested on fruits, meats, and a variety of other foods. And if it’s utilized, it could mean big savings for consumers. According to the BBC, the average American family throws out 40 percent of the food they purchase, which adds up to $165 billion essentially thrown in the trash. That’s a number that could be drastically reduced, if consumers don’t mind eating 60-day-old bread.
Bread that lasts for 60 days could cut food waste [BBC]
Photo: Flickr/Logan Sakai
