Identification and quality assessment

The initial situation is as follows:

1. Mushroom powders and mushroom extracts can be made from various initial forms – from mushroom fruiting bodies or their components, from mycelia on a cereal basis (dry fermentation) or from the pure mycelium from liquid cultures.
2. Mushroom powders from fruiting bodies can often be distinguished in a sensory manner – by means of colour, odour and taste.
3. Mushroom powders from fruiting bodies can be clearly categorised using spore identification.
4. Mushroom powders from mycelia (pure or mixed with cereals) can only be distinguished in a sensory manner to a very limited extent and cannot be clearly categorised using spore identification as the mycelium does not form any spores. They can usually be identified using DNA analysis.
5. Mushroom extracts can only be distinguished in a sensory manner to a very limited extent.
6. Mushroom extracts are usually standardised in terms of polysaccharides with a predetermined proportion of basic material to extract. The stated values and specifications are very difficult to verify at a later time.
7. Mushroom extracts can be mixed with starch and other substances. The addition of starch can be verified using an iodine test.
8. There are currently no established analytical identification methods for mushroom extracts.

Approach to quality assessment

1. Gain information from your supplier regarding the cultivation and manufacturing methods.
2. The distinction between mushroom powder from fruiting bodies or mycelia can be made in an initial step via a laboratory e.g. through a microscope. If no spores are found, it is a mushroom powder from mycelium cultures – in the case of Polyporus umbellatus, also mushroom powder from the sclerotia (=underground reserve bodies)
3. Besides spore analysis, mushroom powder from fruiting bodies can also be identified by means of thin-layer chromatography or DNA analyses.
4. A method for identification and quality determination currently forms part of a research project.

Pollutant analysis

Pesticides (GC-MS and LC-MS at least 500 parameters), microbiology, heavy metals (arsenic, mercury, cadmium and lead) are among the basic investigations. Limit values and regulations can be found under the registry point “Legal area".
Limit values have also been set for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, in dietary supplements since October 2015. Limit values and regulations can be found under the registry point “Legal area".