LAS VEGAS — Mushrooms and ingredients containing mushrooms may add fiber, protein, antioxidants, minerals and B vitamins to food and beverage products. The newly formed Functional Mushroom Council is researching how mushrooms may have a positive impact in areas such as mood and digestion.

However, manufacturers need to do their own research before choosing how they source mushrooms, according to speakers at a SupplySide West session Oct. 30 in Las Vegas.

Julie Daoust, PhD, chief science officer for M2 Ingredients, Vista, Calif., gave examples of questions manufacturers should ask. Have tests been done to ascertain the identity of the mushrooms? What elements are in the mushroom ingredients? Have the ingredients been spray-dried? The mushrooms were grown on what substrate? Where were the mushrooms grown?

Mushrooms may be grown in cold and moist conditions, “which Listeria loves,” Daust said. Mushroom growers should have an environmental monitoring program and cleaning procedures in place to mitigate the risk of Listeria.

Roy Upton, president of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, Scotts Valley, Calif., said that if the mushrooms were grown on wood as a substrate, manufacturers should ask whether it was treated wood or logs from a forest. Who grew the mushrooms may make a difference, too. Was it a third-generation farmer or a mycologist with a PhD?

“You don’t have to know the answers to all those questions, but you need to be comfortable that they are answering you with confidence and also with documentation,” he said.

Mushroom growers and mushroom ingredient suppliers may offer photographs, invitations to visit the growing sites, test results and audit results, he said.

Correctly sourcing mushrooms may allow companies to promote their food and beverage products for health reasons. Mushrooms are low in calories and high in insoluble fiber, said Bill Chioffi, chief strategy officer for Nammex, a wholesaler of organic mushroom extracts based in Gibsons, BC. They contain protein and B vitamins. The substrate mushrooms grow on may affect their nutritional qualities positively. Since wood contains phosphorous and potassium, mushrooms grown on wood may contain those minerals.

“We don’t often think of mushrooms as antioxidants, but they are,” Daust said.

Even lion’s mane mushrooms, which are white in color, contain antioxidants.

“It definitely doesn’t fit the brightly colored food advice we get for antioxidants in the diet,” Daust said.Reishi mushrooms are known for their calming effect.
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Sources of fiber in mushrooms include chitin, alpha-glucans and beta-glucans, she added.

M2 Ingredients, a producer of organic mushroom powders, belongs to the Functional Mushroom Council, a coalition of North American growers advancing the science, understanding and appreciation of functional mushrooms. The council works to provide research, education and promotions.

Mushrooms are more popular and have a longer history in Asia than in North America, Upton said. Reishi mushrooms in China appear on cultural artifacts such as paintings and scrolls. Buddhist monks consumed reishi mushrooms to calm their nervous systems and help support their meditative techniques. Today, one company in Asia has achieved over a $1 billion market share in reishi mushrooms, he said.

“It’s a tiny market that we have here (in North America),” Upton said. “The world market is huge.”