The 411 - Pink Slime

Not to be confused with the pink slime, which makes pureed chicken and pork,  to make hot dogs etc. It may be commonly called pink mould, but this gross slime isn’t really mould at all. “The pink gunk is really an airborne bacterium called Serratia marcescens,” says Steve Stephenson, PhD, a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas who wrote not one but three books on slime moulds.

Unlike toxic black mould that can cause health concerns, pink mould in the shower isn’t a concern for the average person with a healthy immune system. But it’s still gross, and under the right conditions, the colony will continue to flourish, exposing you to even more spores.

Good news: It won’t take a lot of effort to wipe out the pink mould in your bathroom. You can use a specialty cleaning product to work the buildup from your shower. But there are homemade options that’ll do the trick too.

Simply mix four parts baking soda with one part liquid dish soap.