Quality assurance
There are significant differences in the quality of medicinal mushroom products on the market that are not always immediately apparent. We rely on decades of experience and produce the highest quality without compromise.
The following diagram below summarizes the factors of our quality philosophy compared with the situation of some competing medicinal mushroom products on the market.
We were the first in Europe to address the question of how to produce premium-quality medicinal mushroom raw materials. With us, you can always be sure that you are receiving 100% pure mushroom products of exactly the type of mushroom you have ordered.
Order medicinal mushroom raw materials with a high quality standard
What makes a high-quality medicinal mushroom?
Quality Factor 1: Optimal cultivation with mushroom-specific substrates
The production of a high quality medicinal mushroom begins by growing them in their natural habitat in clean nature and on substrates tailored to each mushroom species.*
The mushrooms are also given the time they need to fully ripen, which can vary depending on the mushroom. For example, shiitake needs five months to ripen, whereas reishi requires eight.
It’s worth to note that not every producer allows the mushrooms the growing time they need.
A mushroom grown in a polluted environment, on a sub-optimal substrate or not long enough can’t optimally develop its key ingredients and may even contain traces of contaminants.
*Some of our mushrooms are gathered from nature.
Quality Factor 2: A valuable mushroom product is made primarily* from the fruiting body
Some suppliers of medicinal mushrooms take the entire mushroom culture consisting of mycelium (the mushroom’s root system) and fruiting body and process it further.
The processed raw material is often referred to with pseudo-scientific artificial names such as “extracellular matrix” or “full spectrum”.
Some suppliers also grow their mushrooms on a culture medium made of grain flour, rice, corn, or millet, and pulverize it with the fruiting body.
By adding such inexpensive ingredients to the mix, these suppliers can produce large quantities of “medicinal mushroom” products at low production costs.
We use quote marks here because the end result is a blended product and not a pure mushroom product. The efficacy of a 100% pure mushroom product is not guaranteed.
In addition, blended mushroom products containing mycelium powder are considered “Novel food” in the EU and can’t be marketed or sold here.
*An exception to the use of the fruiting body is the Cordyceps mushroom, which is cultivated differently.
Ensure the purity of your medicinal mushroom products by ordering the raw materials from us
Quality Factor 3: Only products with mushroom polysaccharides have the highest efficacy
When purchasing medicinal mushroom raw materials, it’s also important to make sure that they contain polysaccharides and beta-glucans only from mushrooms. Sounds like a no-brainer, but in reality it’s not always that simple.
Laboratory tests have shown*, that the polysaccharides in medicinal mushroom products that use a starch-based substrate (e.g. wheat or other such grains) also contain polysaccharides typical of grains and not of mushrooms.
Many tests methods to determine polysaccharide content have difficulty distinguishing polysaccharides coming from starches or from mushrooms. That’s why some low quality and cheap products may have polysaccharide content as high as 50%, because the polysaccharides from starch and mushroom are just counted together.
The percentage of polysaccharides in our products is the pure percentage of mushroom-typical polysaccharides. We can clearly prove this with our analysis methods.
*Wu et al. 2017. Evaluation on quality consistency of Ganoderma lucidum dietary supplements collected in the United States. Scientific Reports.
Quality Factor 4: Our mushroom raw materials are continuously analysed from cultivation to production
The purity and quality of our raw materials is constantly monitored throughout the entire process, from the point of cultivation in China until they are shipped to our customers.
Upon arrival to our warehouse in Austria, all samples are microscopically examined by either at Dronania Pharmaceuticals or by the state-accredited and independent laboratory group Agrolab.
We don’t just test random samples: Every single batch is tested for over 250 contaminants such as heavy metals and pesticides such as ethylene oxide and 2-chlorethanol, radionuclides, microbial and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Learn more about our analysis methods
Frequently Asked Questions
We gathered the answers to some popular questions regarding our quality principles below. If you can’t find the answer to your question below, you can take a look at all our FAQs or give us a call or send us an email.
What is mycelium?
The mycelium is the totality of all hyphae, the filamentous cells of a mushrooms. Most of the mushroom actually consists of the mycelium. The fruiting body is used only for reproduction and is known as the part of the mushroom that is used for both natural healing and culinary purposes. A mycelium usually grows underground or in dead wood and can reach gigantic proportions.
Is the mycelium less potent than the fruiting body?
The substances of the fruiting body and the mycelium are very similar. However, the concentration of different ingredients is higher in the fruiting body, so it can be said that the fruiting body of the mushroom is more potent. For example, triterpenes, which are often responsible for the bitterness as well as potency of reishi, are mostly found in the fruiting body and rarely in the mycelium.