Yes. There is such a Thing as Good Mold

5/31/2018 (Permalink)

It’s hard to believe that the same mold that is growing on this bread is responsible for saving millions of lives.

As a company that specializes in Mold Mitigation, SERVPRO of East Greenville has a numerous amount of information about mold. Specifically, harmful or “Black” mold and a large amount of this information can be unnerving. So in an effort to be fair and balanced, we would like to share some information about some “good” types of mold.

Part 1: Penicillin

Unless you are allergic to antibiotics (or are a bacteria culture), Penicillin is your friend. Alexander Fleming is credited with discovering that penicillin can kill disease-causing colonies of bacteria in 1929. But it was not until WWII when penicillin became massed produced to help treat injured troops and get sick troops back into action sooner. Andre Moyer was granted the patent to mass-produce penicillin in 1948, and after that, a variety of antibiotics were developed. From there “synthetic,” or antibiotics made without penicillin, were designed for those that are allergic to penicillin and its derivatives.  

It is possible that millions of lives have been saved thanks to this strain of mold. And that puts it on our good side for sure.