calcium propionate

What it is

Calcium propionate is the calcium salt of propionic acid, used to stop mold and some bacteria from growing. On labels it appears as calcium propionate or E282; in human food it is the standard mold inhibitor in sandwich bread.

Why it's in pet food

Soft-moist foods and chewy treats hold more water than kibble, and water is what mold needs. A mold inhibitor is doing genuine safety work in those formats — the alternative is a drier product or a shorter shelf life.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

Calcium propionate carries no deduction on the additive pillar. The engine's preservative flags target the specific antioxidants with documented safety questions — BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin — not mold inhibitors as a class.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list calcium propionate

No food on the shelf lists calcium propionate yet. Scan a bag that does and its label joins the catalog — versioned from the day it arrives.

Sources

• ACVN — preservative systems in pet food

Related ingredients

• bha
• bht
• citric acid
• ethoxyquin
• mixed tocopherols
• tbhq

Further reading

• Preservatives — natural vs synthetic, and what actually matters
• Storing pet food so it stays the food you bought