130
towards the use of natural and environment-friendly products especially when
related to food and home-care products (Cheetham 1997). According to US as well
as European regulations, products, obtained through microbial or enzymatic processes, are considered as natural. Human affairs have been influenced by fungi for
thousands of years, whether as a direct food source, as a medicine, or as a processed
food form, due to its nutritive value (Moore et al. 2011). The presence of essential
and non-essential amino acids in the fungi has a profound influence on the nutritional value of fungi as food and feed. Today food and food supplements as well as
other dietary sources and fermented beverages obtained from the fungal origin are
consumed all over the world in vast quantities which leads to its commercial production by a rapidly growing industry. However, the consumption of wild fungi was
first reliably noted in China, several hundred years before the birth of Christ
(Aaronson 2000).
In spite of having various evidences and age-old practice of consumption of
fungi and their utilization in production of other food materials, their full potential
was not explored until the latter half of the twentieth century when its potential
application as dietary source was boosted by the advent of the golden age of industrial microbiology (Aaronson 2000). Since then, this diverse community represented by yeasts, mushrooms and filamentous fungi has been exploited in numerous
food products being used for both human and livestock consumption. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the cultivation of macrofungi to yield fruit bodies
began to flourish, and today over 6 million tonnes of edible mushrooms are produced commercially each year around the world. However, all of the wild varieties
of macrofungi are not propagated on a commercial scale. The choice of the fungal
strain used in the food industry is based on their production yields and regulatory
issues, especially fungal strains which have attained the so-called GRAS (Generally
Recognized As Safe) status, by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are
preferred among others.
Besides being used as dietary sources and other food and feed supplements, various other fungi have been reported to modify food to make it more nutritious or
palatable. For example, soy sauce being used as flavouring and condiment in
Chinese cuisine was produced by growing filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus
oryzae and A. sojae on cooked soya beans. Similarly, Tuber melanosporum is used
as flavouring instead of a separate dish known to most as the truffle. There are certain natural advantages of the fungal kingdom in terms of their dietary supremacy
over the rest of the vegetarian platter. These are: (a) a good protein content (20–30%
of dry matter) having all the essential amino acids (yeasts are especially enriched in
lysine) and thus capable of substituting meat, (b) having chitinous wall to act as a
source of dietary fibre, (c) high vitamin B content, (d) low in fat, (e) virtually free
of cholesterol and (f) low production cost (Breene 1990).
Use of agro-wastes and other industrial waste products as substrate leads to the
low production cost for mushroom cultivation, for example, use of cotton wastes for
the cultivation of oyster mushroom species (Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus cystidiosus, Pleurotus sajor-caju) (Cohen et al. 2002). Similarly cotton wastes can also be
used for the production of the straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) which was
A. Singh et al.
towards the use of natural and environment-friendly products especially when
related to food and home-care products (Cheetham 1997). According to US as well
as European regulations, products, obtained through microbial or enzymatic processes, are considered as natural. Human affairs have been influenced by fungi for
thousands of years, whether as a direct food source, as a medicine, or as a processed
food form, due to its nutritive value (Moore et al. 2011). The presence of essential
and non-essential amino acids in the fungi has a profound influence on the nutritional value of fungi as food and feed. Today food and food supplements as well as
other dietary sources and fermented beverages obtained from the fungal origin are
consumed all over the world in vast quantities which leads to its commercial production by a rapidly growing industry. However, the consumption of wild fungi was
first reliably noted in China, several hundred years before the birth of Christ
(Aaronson 2000).
In spite of having various evidences and age-old practice of consumption of
fungi and their utilization in production of other food materials, their full potential
was not explored until the latter half of the twentieth century when its potential
application as dietary source was boosted by the advent of the golden age of industrial microbiology (Aaronson 2000). Since then, this diverse community represented by yeasts, mushrooms and filamentous fungi has been exploited in numerous
food products being used for both human and livestock consumption. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the cultivation of macrofungi to yield fruit bodies
began to flourish, and today over 6 million tonnes of edible mushrooms are produced commercially each year around the world. However, all of the wild varieties
of macrofungi are not propagated on a commercial scale. The choice of the fungal
strain used in the food industry is based on their production yields and regulatory
issues, especially fungal strains which have attained the so-called GRAS (Generally
Recognized As Safe) status, by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are
preferred among others.
Besides being used as dietary sources and other food and feed supplements, various other fungi have been reported to modify food to make it more nutritious or
palatable. For example, soy sauce being used as flavouring and condiment in
Chinese cuisine was produced by growing filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus
oryzae and A. sojae on cooked soya beans. Similarly, Tuber melanosporum is used
as flavouring instead of a separate dish known to most as the truffle. There are certain natural advantages of the fungal kingdom in terms of their dietary supremacy
over the rest of the vegetarian platter. These are: (a) a good protein content (20–30%
of dry matter) having all the essential amino acids (yeasts are especially enriched in
lysine) and thus capable of substituting meat, (b) having chitinous wall to act as a
source of dietary fibre, (c) high vitamin B content, (d) low in fat, (e) virtually free
of cholesterol and (f) low production cost (Breene 1990).
Use of agro-wastes and other industrial waste products as substrate leads to the
low production cost for mushroom cultivation, for example, use of cotton wastes for
the cultivation of oyster mushroom species (Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus cystidiosus, Pleurotus sajor-caju) (Cohen et al. 2002). Similarly cotton wastes can also be
used for the production of the straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) which was
A. Singh et al.