Fresh, natural food is becoming increasingly hard to find while grocery shopping. Sure the food feels fresh and taste good, but when you actually read the ingredients you realize how many chemicals and preservatives you’re consuming.
This is especially true for loafs of bread.
TikTok user Big Bacon Outdoors (@bigbacon_outdoors) garnered over 371,000 likes as of publication when he discovered years-old loaf of bread.
What was wrong with the bread?
According to Big Bacon Outdoors, he’d recently found a loaf of bread that was purchased before his dad had moved, which had an expiration date of Feb. 26, 2023.
“Today is February 18, 2025, there ain’t a lick of mold on this thing and it’s still soft,” he said. “That’s kinda scary.”
Viewers shared their thoughts and advice.
“I have noticed this too. Bread used to mold within a few weeks, what changed. GMO? Or maybe a super preservative? Whatever it is can’t be good for us,” one said.
“We try hard to totally avoid so called ‘foods’ with more than three or four ingredients. Especially those with ingredients you can’t pronounce,” a second advised.
“Costco bread!! I will NEVER buy again. Ugh,” a third remarked.
“I have noticed that bread and cheese don’t mold anymore,” a user added.
“I had one for three years, no mold. Same brand,” another said.
Why does a loaf of bread last longer?
According to Food Republic, there is a big difference from an artisan loaf of bread you buy at a farmer’s market and a loaf of bread bought at the store. While the freshly baked bread will go stale after a few days, store bought bread will remain soft and fluffly for weeks, and in this case, years.
This is because store bought bread is more than just flour, yeast, salt and water. It contains “additives and preservatives often incorporated into manufactured bread on an industrial scale, in an attempt to extend its freshness.”
Store bought bread contains emulsifiers, which add extra softness to the texture of the loaf; enzymes that keep bread soft for a great like “protease, carbohydrate, or oxidase; and antimicrobals to help inhibit the growth of mold on the loaf and stretch the shelf-life of the bread.”
The World Health Organization reports that these preservatives and chemicals not only “slow decomposition caused by mold, air, bacteria or yeast.” The organization also maintains the quality of food and help to control contamination caused by food borne illnesses.
@bigbacon_outdoors probly not good for us. #gross #mold #free ♬ original sound – BigBaconOutdoors
The Daily Dot reached out to Big Bacon Outdoors via TikTok Comments and Bimbo Bakeries via email for more information.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
