Moldy soap?

[eleraine]

Do you think this is mold?

The soap is made using cocoa powder, 90% dark chocolate and 50% goat's milk. Soap formula includes cocoa butter, olive oil, castor oil and apricot kernel oil. After curing for 4 weeks, I wrapped these up in stretch wrap and sent it to the owner. This was in November last year. She opened this up yesterday or earlier today and found that the tree soap has spots that looked a little like mold. The other soap (same formula) is okay.

I suspect that there was a pocket of air trapped in the stretch wrap and because the wrap isn't breathable, it created a nice and humid environment. I live in the tropics where the temp is 30°C and humidity is around 60-80%.

Would it have been prevented if she were to remove the stretch wrap or for me to have just shipped it to her unwrapped in shrink bands or shrink wrap or any plastic?

 

[CaraBou]

Well, it does look like mold from here. Have you unwrapped it yet and looked closer? I would think that water trapped inside the wrap could create conditions supportive of fungal growth. Must be an alkaline lover though!

Just out of curiousity - was this a customer or an acquaintance, and how did they react?

 

[eleraine]

This was a customer. She wasn't upset or anything. Just didn't know what to make of it. I suspect it could be as what you said...advised her to remove the bits by either digging it out (it was surfacial according to her) or washing it as use. Also gave her a discount off her next order and gently reminded her to remove all plastic wrapping from her other handmade soaps so that they can continue to breath, etc.

Apparently, another soapmaker friend had issues with mold but hers was a coffee soap!

 

[cmzaha]

I would have to wonder why you did not replace her order? It could save a customer that very possibly will not come back even though she did not seem upset. I would be most unhappy if I was told to dig out the mold or wash it off.

 

[eleraine]

I actually am going to give her a complimentary bar to replace this one on top of that one which she purchased and on top of the discount. I make a few different types of soap and it so happened with this particular bar, I don't have any in stock and won't be making any up for a while so she will get a new bar but it won't be the same bar.

 

[shunt2011]

It looks like mold to me as well. Perhaps you should punch or cut a couple small holes in the plastic wrap so they can continue to breath and have a bit of air circulation. Maybe that would eliminate any future problems.

 

[mel z]

I have no knowledge of how to stop it. I was wondering earlier this year when I looked at all the soap I have, and I continue to make more, what will happen to all that soap. I thought they would just go rancid in time, but got a surprise from the internet.

I cannot remember what terms I googled, but I ran across someone's blog of an old bar of soap in the shower in their "winter home" covered in mold. I am guessing it is simply sitting in the shower with full air exposure. The bar in the photo is completely covered in mold. Link to blog:

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/lastword/2009/02/bad-soap.html

 

[eleraine]

It looks like mold to me as well. Perhaps you should punch or cut a couple small holes in the plastic wrap so they can continue to breath and have a bit of air circulation. Maybe that would eliminate any future problems.

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that...put some pin size holes in the shrink wrap, etc. Either that AND leave a note somewhere to remind customers to remove the plastic wrapping.

 

[engblom]

I have no knowledge of how to stop it. I was wondering earlier this year when I looked at all the soap I have, and I continue to make more, what will happen to all that soap. I thought they would just go rancid in time, but got a surprise from the internet.

I cannot remember what terms I googled, but I ran across someone's blog of an old bar of soap in the shower in their "winter home" covered in mold. I am guessing it is simply sitting in the shower with full air exposure. The bar in the photo is completely covered in mold. Link to blog:

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/lastword/2009/02/bad-soap.html

This strengthens my fear of mixing stuff into soaps. I have been playing with the idea of making oat soap but not dared.

 

[mel z]

This strengthens my fear of mixing stuff into soaps. I have been playing with the idea of making oat soap but not dared.

Oh no. Make some oat soap.

I have some that is well over a year old and it is fine. In dry closet. I also have some in use in the shower right now. Granted, I do fear adding food or milk to soaps I am not going to be using right away, so I store those away from the other soaps.

It seems that bathrooms may be the issue. All of the moisture and humidity in them, and there are always mold spores in bathrooms on the shower walls, around the shower faucet, under the soap dish that is attached to the shower wall, etc...

If you use the soap, it should not have time to sit around long enough to mold. At least that is my thinking, not any scientific thinking.

 

[MzMolly65]

My goodness .. I'm reading some of the comments from that link you posted about the moldy soap. My new soap brain is struggling with the comments below thinking, "WHHAAAT???" Am I right in thinking these comments are insane? To me it sounds as if they are touting lye heavy or 0 superfat soaps. Could these comments come from real soapers or uninformed folks? Am I the one that's uneducated when maybe these comments are bang on the money?

***probably not enough lye was added to the oils to completely saponify them, and the unconverted oils were food for the fungus. A good bar of soap that was fully saponified doesn't go bad, it'll last a hundred years***

***the purest soaps (100% saponified) do not require perfumes to cover up the smell of fats that have gone rancid and usually are the cheapest because ignorant people are willing to pay more because they think erroneously that the perfume allows them to be cleaner***

***I suppose that if a fungus can acidify the soap or survive in a basic enviroment (PH 12 or above) it could live off soap.***

 

[eyeroll]

Am I right in thinking these comments are insane?

Yes. :shock:

 

[mel z]

Oh carp! I forgot to say, don't read the comments!!!

It was just to show the picture of moldy soap. The rest of it is most unhelpful jibber jabber.

 

[ilovesoap2]

I would have to wonder why you did not replace her order? It could save a customer that very possibly will not come back even though she did not seem upset. I would be most unhappy if I was told to dig out the mold or wash it off.

I so agree with this. Whether or not it's mold we will never know. What we do know is that, whatever it is, it's alive. I would call/email and ask her to toss the whole thing. ASAP. Then followup with replacements, refunds, whatever she is happy with. This is not about the money either, it's about your customer's health. Mold spores have wings, she wants to toss that thing unopened.

 

[cmzaha]

I happen to make soap with 0-3% superfat. I never go over 3% other than salt bars, and the only lye heavy soap I have ever had is the one I did from AnnaMaries thread with the lye heavy castile. Now that is a lye heavy soap. Just used an oatmeal bar I made 3 yrs ago with 2% superfat. What a nice mild bubbly soap..

 

[seven]

and this is the best argument in those long lines of comments:

****** I postulate that it isn't a soap at all, but a long forgotten cookie.

 

[Dennis]

i so agree with this. Whether or not it's mold we will never know. What we do know is that, whatever it is, it's alive.

 

[eleraine]

I so agree with this. Whether or not it's mold we will never know. What we do know is that, whatever it is, it's alive. I would call/email and ask her to toss the whole thing. ASAP. Then followup with replacements, refunds, whatever she is happy with. This is not about the money either, it's about your customer's health. Mold spores have wings, she wants to toss that thing unopened.

Thanks for your input. I've already done as you mentioned.

 

[Lin]

Actually I found some of the comments quite interesting, like:

Wonder if NS readers will ever keep quiet if they have no idea what they are talking about.

First soap IS anti-microbial. It breaks down and dissolves away cell membranes (which are made of fatty acids) of bacteria and other critters, thereby killing them. Just try adding a drop of soap solution to a slide of wiggling paramecium under a microscope and you will see they die instantly (almost).

Second, although some organisms can grow on some mild soaps, what is pictured is not fungus. It is crystals of salts (from hardwater reaction with soap) that grows as soap is wetted and re-dries repeatedly (like stalagmites).

 

[engblom]

The comment Lin found was interesting until I took again a look at the soap. It is definitely looking like mold growth and you can see the typical colors of mold through the white growth. I do not believe it is crystals of salt.