Key points of quality control in the pickled mushroom industry

Strictly identify the varieties of mushrooms entering the processing stage. Because different varieties of mushrooms differ in chemical composition, texture, and taste, it is necessary to ensure that the varieties of mushrooms used for pickling meet expectations. For example, for some wild mushroom varieties that may contain toxins, such as Amanita muscaria, professional morphological and molecular biological methods should be used to identify them to prevent poisonous mushrooms from being mixed into the processing process.

Check the freshness and integrity of mushrooms. The caps of fresh mushrooms should be full, and the gills should be tight and white or light brown, without obvious wilting or discoloration. Any mushrooms with signs of pests and diseases (such as wormholes, or mildew spots) or mechanical damage may affect the quality of pickled mushrooms and should be removed.

Establish a stable and reliable procurement channel. Cooperate with reputable and quality-assured mushroom growers or suppliers, and require suppliers to provide quality inspection reports for raw materials, including the test results of indicators such as pesticide residues and heavy metal content. For example, for the purchase of Agaricus bisporus, growers are required to provide records of no use of highly toxic pesticides and heavy metal content test reports that meet national standards.

Random inspections are conducted on purchased mushrooms. Raw mushrooms are sampled at a certain ratio (such as 10% - 20% per batch) to check their physical and chemical indicators and microbiological indicators. Physical and chemical indicators include moisture content (generally the moisture content of fresh mushrooms is between 85% - 95%), protein content, etc.; microbiological indicators mainly check the total number of bacteria, mold and yeast counts, coliform counts, etc.