Why does rye bread tend to mold sooner than wholewheat bread?

Perhaps it is moister? Moister bread molds more quickly. When I make potato bread, it molds very quickly because it’s so much moister than other breads, for example.

I only buy rye bread (Oroweat Jewish Rye) once or twice a year, at St Patrick’s Day for sandwiches. I rarely have it go moldy, but the “re-seal” sticker doesn’t keep it sealed very well, and it starts to dry out.

Alvarado Street Bakery Multi Grain Sprouted goes moldy on me after about 5 days. But it stays pretty well sealed

I think it is because rye bread has less preservatives in it. Wholemeal is often very similar to white bread in that its ingredients are so processed. Check the labels and see what it says.

@crisw It’s the other way around. Dry bread molds faster than moist. That’s why Wonder Bread is so disgustingly, inedibly awful: you can practically wring the water out of it like a sponge, since they add as much as is legally permitted in order to keep it fresher longer.

@SmashTheState

Sorry, but that’s not correct. Moisture definitely influences mold growth – as this site says, “The bottom line is that the dryer the bread the less likely it is to mold. ” Dry stuff doesn’t mold; that’s why crackers don’t get moldy.

could it be the addition of molasses in the recipe?

or brown sugar, in the case of Rye. I was thinking Pumpernickle….