I remember the day I unfriended my college friend on Facebook. It wasn’t over politics or a personal slight. It was because she insisted, with absolute certainty, that citric acid caused allergies because it was “made by fungus.” This wasn’t just a random theory—she was a biochemistry major who’d just come from a lecture debunking vitalism. And yet, here she was, sharing articles about how the “mold changed the molecule.” It made me disproportionately angry. You can’t teach people how atoms work, then watch them fall for health myths that would make a 19th-century alchemist blush. The conversation flows naturally into this strange intersection of science, fear, and food.
The Tale Unfolds
The Facebook Friend Who Blew My Mind
I had to remove a Facebook “friend” almost 10 years ago because they kept sharing newspaper articles in random group chats about how citric acid caused allergies due to being produced in fungus. They made it very clear the fungus “changed” the molecule and it wasn’t impurities causing the problem. Mind you, this was a person studying biochemistry at university. It made me disproportionately mad that you can go straight from a lecture about how vitalism is wrong to sending these idiotic health articles to all random friends. Some people will believe anything if it sounds like it came from an authority figure—even when their own education is screaming otherwise.The Dihydrogen Oxide Trolling Session
I have an in-law who falls prey to a lot of this stuff and I was trying to get her to understand how most of those “mommy bloggers” she followed were far too ignorant about the topics they posted about to be trustworthy. To prove the point I then pulled out the “dihydrogen oxide” trope knowing that she wouldn’t be aware of it. I asked if she was aware of this chemical in food and followed saying something about it being “the most commonly used industrial solvent and it’s now so prevalent in the world that you can find at least traces of it in virtually every food in the supermarket, even organic ones.” She had a look of wide-eyed terror on her face until I explained that I was talking about water. That’s how easy it is to make something that is completely harmless sound nefarious.
The Ryan Kelly Effect
Someone saw Ryan Kelly’s (@ryankellycomedy) video about this (which showed up on my Instagram feed like one minute after seeing this post) and immediately started spinning it. Algorithms at work, indeed. This is the black mold that grows on fruit, not the kind you get on walls. Clickbait title; not the same black mold you’re thinking. But the damage is done. The misinformation spreads faster than the truth can even get its shoes on.Mold Misinformation 101
Whether or not the OP’s post is because Ryan Kelly (@ryankellycomedy) just posted a video about this (which showed up on my Instagram feed like one minute after seeing this post), someone should probably tell him… Because, yeah… There is a whole lot of engagement on a reel doing exactly this. It already is, just saw a fear-mongering short on Facebook this morning on this. Ah, so like more intentionally misleading slop posts!!! I love watching the Facebook-ification in real time.The Black Mold That Isn’t
For what it’s worth, Aspergillus is everywhere, and it is one of the most common household molds. When people refer to toxic black mold, the culprit is usually Stachybotrys chartarum, which can be found growing on household cellulose materials (paper, wood, drywall) after water damage. But not all black mold is the same, and many times, people see Aspergillus in the wake of water damage and panic, thinking it’s Stachybotrys. Most of the “black mold” people see in their house is not dangerous. A large chunk of the mold removal services are based on bunk science and are scams.The Chemical That’s Both Natural and Unnatural
It’s also becoming quite a hot topic amongst certain wellness communities. Extremely limited and not-at-all powerful studies like this have predictably been taken to mean that mold-produced citric acid is basically behind all chronic illnesses, will give you turbo cancer etc — despite the fact that it is purified and sterilized and filtered and distilled plenty of times after being produced by the mold. Note that they only theorize there are proteins or byproducts or mold bits left in the final product, they haven’t actually measured any. Expect to see citric acid mentioned in the same conspiratorial breath as aspartame or seed oils going forward.Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
I have MCAS and this is exactly why I react to citric acid now. For anyone else that didn’t know what MCAS stood for: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic immune disorder where mast cells improperly release excessive chemical mediators, causing recurrent, severe allergy-like symptoms across multiple systems (skin, GI, heart, respiratory, neurological). Diagnosis involves blood/urine tests for elevated mediators, and management focuses on antihistamines, mast cell stabilizers, and avoiding triggers. It’s a severely limited diet, but someone upvoted to restore balance. That sounds very annoying to deal with.The History of Citric Acid
It’s as stupid as saying “the stove top gets red when it gets really hot” did you know red is also the color that red dye makes food items? :0 So when our parents told us not to eat mold, they were just gatekeeping the candy industry. Every fermenter is basically a bioreactor so clay pots for traditional kimchi & sauerkraut would qualify. You can even make a claim that brewing beer & making wine are the first biotech industries because they harnessed a living organism to produce a drug. Wild. I thought that stuff was chemically synthesized, and I certainly did not expect bioreactors to have been used for so long before the discovery of DNA and how to manipulate it.Pfizer and the Mold
Yes, and the dominant player in citric acid production at one time was Pfizer — yes, that very Pfizer. They successfully adapted the process to produce penicillin en masse during WWII and flooded the world with penicillin for a time. This is how they became a pharma company. Also the whole transition was led by a female engineer. So when our parents told us not to eat mold, they were just gatekeeping the candy industry. Isn’t that what BASF stands for? Big Aspergillus Stuff Factory /sThe Truth About Purity
You don’t see why people care about stuff like this as long as the end result is sterile and chemically pure. It’s because they don’t know whether or not the end result is sterile and chemically pure. And it’s really hard to actually get things chemically pure. Some people respond to very very small amounts of things. This isn’t the dangerous black mold, but if your body responds to it with righteous fury anyways, it can train the body to also go after citric acid which is less than ideal. Whether or not the OP’s post is because Ryan Kelly (@ryankellycomedy) just posted a video about this (which showed up on my Instagram feed like one minute after seeing this post), someone should probably tell him… Because, yeah… There is a whole lot of engagement on a reel doing exactly this.
Story’s End
The next time you see a fear-mongering post about citric acid or any other “dangerous” ingredient, take a breath. Ask yourself: Is this fear based on science, or is it based on someone’s desire to go viral? The truth is often far less dramatic than the myth—but that doesn’t make for good clicks. The next time you see a fear-mongering post about citric acid or any other “dangerous” ingredient, take a breath. Ask yourself: Is this fear based on science, or is it based on someone’s desire to go viral? The truth is often far less dramatic than the myth—but that doesn’t make for good clicks.