Edible Mushroom Processing and Functional Food Development

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2026 | Viewed by 785

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: mushroom processing; polysaccharides; bioactivity; flavor products; functional food

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Edible mushrooms is the general term used for a class of large fungi that are available for human consumption and have medicinal value. The transformation and upgrading of mushrooms from primary to deep processing is an inevitable trend. The development of the deep mushroom processing industry has met people’s diverse demands and is of great significance for promoting the development of the agricultural economy. Edible mushrooms are favored by consumers because they are rich in various nutrients such as protein and polysaccharides, and have become another good raw material for functional food products. The edible mushroom processing industry needs to increase investment in research and development. It is of scientific importance to develop new products and processes for edible mushrooms. Research on the production of vegetarian meat using edible mushrooms as raw materials is an emerging and popular direction, which can not only provide sufficient protein but also offer other nutritional values, meeting people’s demands for health and meat products. Mushroom polysaccharides are reported to have antioxidant, immunomodulatory, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and intestinal flora activities. Research on polysaccharides from mushrooms as functional foods has received extensive attention due to their wide range of sources, low price, and high safety. This Special Issue focuses on the evaluation of mushroom quality, the high-value processing technology of products, the active ingredients of mushrooms, and the development of health products with mushrooms.

Dr. Ying Liu
Dr. Xiaobo Dong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • edible mushrooms
  • processing technology
  • product development
  • quality analysis
  • nutritional components
  • active ingredients
  • efficacy evaluation
  • structure–activity relationship

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 1140 KB  
Article
Evaluation of Quality and Storage Characteristics of Freeze-Dried Powdered Mycelium Sausages According to Packaging Methods
by Yu-Na Oh and Hack-Youn Kim
Foods 2025, 14(23), 4080; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14234080 - 27 Nov 2025
Viewed by 399
Abstract
With the increases in the global population, demand for meat, and income, plant-based meat alternatives using mushrooms, soybeans, and other ingredients are attracting increasing attention to address food security. Mushroom mycelia have a high moisture content and are prone to quality deterioration; therefore, [...] Read more.
With the increases in the global population, demand for meat, and income, plant-based meat alternatives using mushrooms, soybeans, and other ingredients are attracting increasing attention to address food security. Mushroom mycelia have a high moisture content and are prone to quality deterioration; therefore, interventions, such as freeze-drying and optimized packaging, are necessary to improve shelf life. Furthermore, controlling storage temperature is a key factor in preserving product quality. Therefore, in this study, Lentinula edodes (shiitake mushroom) mycelium sausage were stored under various packaging methods (aerobic packaging, vacuum packaging, and modified atmosphere packaging) and storage temperatures (0 and 4 °C). Quality and storability were evaluated at 0, 7, 15, 30, and 50 days using tests for proximate components, pH, storage loss, color, water activity (Aw), aerobic bacterial count, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) using an electronic nose and an electronic tongue. The vacuum-treated groups showed superior pH, CIE L*, CIE a*, Aw, TBARS, and VBN levels. At 0 °C, each treatment group exhibited significantly lower VBN levels on days 30 and 50 (p < 0.05). Overall, vacuum packaging and low storage temperatures are expected to be beneficial for maintaining the quality and storage characteristics of shiitake mushroom mycelium sausages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Edible Mushroom Processing and Functional Food Development)
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