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Our family consumes a lot of olives. About 5 years ago, we started buying the 55oz cans of Lindsey sliced black olives. We put them in about 7 separate plastic containers (Hillshire Farms sliced deli meat containers) and then refrigerate them. As we finish off a container, we open a new one. We've done this for years without a problem.

Of the last 3 cans, though, by the time we get to the third container of olives, they're starting to mold. All the containers of remaining olives are molding. Why would this suddenly start happening? We haven't really changed anything, so I can only assume that Lindsey has changed something.

Is there something we can do to prevent this?

At the rate we consume olives, it's just ridiculous to buy those tiny little cans. Even if we only go through two of the containers before they go bad, we're saving money, but we hate the idea of wasting all those olives.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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    You say you haven’t ‘really’ changed anything, does that mean you’ve ‘sort of’ changed things? Have you changed dish soap, has the design/materials of the containers changed (assuming you haven’t been using the same ones for 5 years. Are you using the olives as fast as always?
    – Spagirl
    May 20, 2018 at 14:28
  • Sorry, I should have been more clear. As far as we know, we haven't changed anything. We buy our olives at the same store. We store them in the same containers we've always stored them in. After we got the mold problem, I noticed that the mold was really hard to wash out of the containers. The last couple of times, I've really scrubbed them down well and then run them through the dishwasher hoping that would eliminate all the mold and spores. We even tried using new containers that that we've never used before, but the problem persists.
    – Pete
    May 20, 2018 at 14:33
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    In 5 yrs, it's very likely that Lindsay has changed something in their process. If you are very interested, you ought to inquire with them. If they answer, you might get an idea how to fix the problem
    – Lorel C.
    May 20, 2018 at 15:21
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    Have you been using the same fridge all that time? Arranged the same? Defrosted regularly? Have you knocked the temperature control? It might be worth checking the temperature is what you expect it to be.
    – Chris H
    May 20, 2018 at 16:15
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    @ChrisH, I hadn't considered that. We did replace our refrigerator a while back. I'm fairly certain the problem started a good bit after that, but perhaps not. I've tried lowering the temperature in the refrigerator a bit to see if that helps.
    – Pete
    May 20, 2018 at 16:50

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Change your olive storage to glass jars and plastic lids. I use Bell jars and buy the plastic lids where I buy the jars; Walmart or hardware store, during canning season. The glass jars can be sterilized, if mold forms on the food. Plastic can never really be clean once the mold starts. Toss the plastic.

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