Science powerpoint

Science Inquiry Project

Teri Cozart Sara Elmore

Organic and Non-Organic foods and mold growth

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?

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

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.

WE WILL BUY THREE OF EACH ORGANIC AND NON-ORGANIC

FOODS (APPLES, BREAD, BANANAS, BABY FOOD, AND POTATOES).

Procedures

WE WILL CUT EACH ORGANIC AND NON ORGANIC FOOD INTO SLICES AND PLACE

THREE SLICES OF EACH IN PLASTIC BAGGIES.

Procedures continued..

FOR THE BABY FOOD WE WILL

PLACE TWO TABLESPOONS

INTO A PLASTIC BAGGIE.

Continued..

WE WILL LABEL EACH FOOD

ORGANIC AND NON ORGANIC SO THAT WE

WILL NOT GET THE TWO

CONFUSED

Continued..

WE WILL OBSERVE THE CHANGES IN THESE FOODS OVER A PERIOD OF THREE

WEEKS AND RECORD DATA AT THE END OF EACH WEEK.

9/2410/110/8

Continued…

THE FOOD (BREAD,

BANANA, BABY FOOD, APPLE,

POTATO) IS GOING TO BE

THE INDEPENDENT

VARIABLE.

Independent Variable

WHETHER OR NOT MOLD GREW

OR APPEARED ON THE FOOD

SERVES AS THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE.

Dependant Variable

•ORGANIC FOODS ARE MADE IN A WAY THAT COMPLIES WITH ORGANIC STANDARDS SET BY NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.(PAUL, 2010)

•IN THE UNITED STATES, ORGANIC PRODUCTION IS A SYSTEM THAT IS MANAGED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ORGANIC FOODS PRODUCTION ACT (OFPA) OF 1990 AND REGULATIONS IN TITLE 7 , PART 205 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS TO RESPOND TO SITE -SPECIFIC CONDITIONS BY INTEGRATING CULTURAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND MECHANICAL PRACTICES THAT FOSTER CYCLING OF RESOURCES, PROMOTE ECOLOGICAL BALANCE, AND CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY. (PAUL, 2010)

What is Organic?

ORGANIC MEAT, POULTRY, EGGS AND DAIRY PRODUCTS COME FROM ANIMALS THAT ARE GIVEN NO ANTIBIOTICS OR GROWTH HORMONES. (ENSMINGER, 1994) .

ORGANIC FOOD IS PRODUCED WITHOUT USING MOST CONVENTIONAL PESTICIDES, FERTILIZERS MADE WITH SYNTHETIC INGREDIENTS OR SEWAGE SLUDGE, BIOENGINEERING OR IONIZING RADIATION. (ENSMINGER, 1994) .

Continued..

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)

Percentages Description

0-10% covered in mold11-30% covered in

mold31-50% 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?

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 .

AppleOrganic Mold

GrowthNon-organic

Mold Growth

Week 1 NO 0-10% of mold growth

NO 0-10% of mold growth





Final

Baby Food

Organic Mold Growth

Non-organic

Mold Growth



Week 2 YES 0-10% of mold growth

YES 11-30% of mold growth



Final

BreadOrganic Mold

GrowthNon-

organicMold

Growth







Final

Potato

Organic Mold Growth

Non-organic

Mold Growth







Final

BananaOrganic Mold

GrowthNon-organic

Mold Growth







Final

Organic Food Non- Organic Food

AppleBananaBreadBaby FoodPotato

AppleBananaBreadBaby FoodPotato

Mold on Foods

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 FoodNon-Organic Food

Non-organic: 54% mold growth overallOrganic: 46 % mold growth overall

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.

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.

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

•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

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

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

•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

•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

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

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.

•UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE . (2010, MARCH 04) . RETRIEVED FROM HTTP: / /WWW.FSIS.USDA.GOV/FACTSHEETS/MOLDS_ON_FOOD/INDEX

•CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION . (2010, FEBURARY 08) . RETRIEVED FROM HTTP: / /WWW.CDC.GOV/MOLD/FAQS.HTM

References

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