The most common type of fungi found on food are molds or filmentous fungi. These fungi are multicellular organisms that reproduce in a variety of ways. The major part of a mold mat is made up of thin strand-like structures called hyphae. At the end of the hyphae are the reproductive structures that produce spores. Spores are produced on different structures depending on species.
Conidiospores are spores that are produced in a chain from conidia.
Spores can also be produced in a cluster by budding from a conidium. Another method by which spores are produced is to enclose the spores within a sac-like structure called a sporangium. The spores contained within are called sporangium. For this experiment, common mold was allowed to grow on bread, cheese and lime and was examined using scanning electron microscopy with an aim towards identification. Also a comparison of two preparation techiniques, osmium vapour fixation with air drying and osmium vapour fixation with alcohol dehydration and critical point drying was performed.