Analysis: As our results show, adding Bromate to the bread hindered the growth of mold almost throughout the

entire duration of the study. Potassium Bromate is a bread additive which is used to increase the breads volume and strengthen its gluten. Now banned from many countries due to properties which may be harmful to humans, mainly turning into Potassium Bromide if not cooked properly, Potassium Bromate has now been commercially replaced by ascorbic acid. Research was conducted in order to find out how this additive was able to hinder mold growth so well. It was then found out that Potassium Bromate is a very strong oxidizer, able to sometimes cause fire with contact with sensitive materials. Oxidation is the process defined by the reaction of oxygen molecules with all the different substances which they come in contact with. The rotting of certain fruit is attributed to oxidation. This information then led to more research on the relationship of mold with oxygen. Upon further research, it was also found out that mold is an obligate aerobe which means it requires oxygen in order to complete their metabolism. Research also showed that preservatives work in various ways. One of which was changing the environment in such a way that it was not hospitable to the mold. With the gathered information, it was concluded that the Potassium Bromate, being a great oxidizer, reacted with the oxygen thus changing the oxygens composition. This resulted to the environment having a lack of oxygen and because of this the mold was not able to complete its metabolism. This then accounts for the extended period of no mold growth. The other preservative was cinnamon. Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum. It was used as a preservative in the olden times becaused it masked the smell of rotting meat. Now, it is used as a preservative due to its essential oils which possess antimicrobial properties, having only a bacteriostatic concentration of 0.075% based on the study of A. Smith-Palmer, J. Stewart and L. Fyfe. Antimicrobial substances prevent mold growth and work to kill yeast, bacteria and other microbes. As seen in our results, the Cinnamon was only able to hinder mold growth for a short amount of time. Research was conducted in order to find out why. It was later learned that essential oils need to be placed in a cool area in order to maintain their effectiveness. Since the bread was placed in an area at room temperature, it was not cold enough to keep the oils effective. In accordance to this, the baking process might have also affected its effectiveness as the cinnamon was baked into the bread and not sprinkled on top of it. This meant that the cinnamon underwent high temperatures even before the recording of data began. A study on the effectiveness of essential oils suggests that a mixture or combination of oils, mainly thyme and oregano, is more effective than single essential oils. This could have also attributed to the less than ample performance of the cinnamon. Finally, it was found out that in order for the essential oils to work as proper preservatives, there would need to be large amounts of these oils present; beyond the amount which is safe for human consumption. This led to the research of the quantity of essential oils in cinnamon. Based on gathered information, cinnamon is only comprised of 0.5%-1% essential oil. Clearly, this amount is quite small and could not have met the requirement it needs to be effective at preserving. Research on previous studies was conducted. However, there were no past studies found which compared the effectiveness Bromate and cinnamon against other

preservatives. On the other hand, studies, experimentation and science has proven that adding preservatives do hinder mold growth.