Commercial Mushroom Mycoblitz

Commercial Mushroom Mycoblitz

iNaturalist Project Link for the 1st Commercial MycoBlitz

BACKGROUND

Mushrooms are an integral part of nearly every society and culture across the globe, used in culinary arts, traditional medicines, and cultural ceremonies. Edible and medicinal mushrooms and mushroom products contribute 45 Billion USD annually to the global economy (Niego et al., Contribution of fungi to the global economy). In recent years the number of commercial mushroom products have increased alongside inaccurate or unclear product labeling. Even highly regulated food subject to FDA labeling requirements (Rivas-Ferreiro et al., It’s what’s inside that counts: DNA Barcoding of porcini commercial products reveals product mislabeling; Cutler II et al. What’s for dinner this time?: DNA authentication of “wild mushrooms” in food products sold in the USA). The situation becomes even more concerning when less regulated supplements and herbal products are considered (Loyd et al., Identifying the “Mushroom of Immortality”: Assessing the Ganoderma Species Composition in Commercial Reishi Products; Raja et al. DNA barcoding for identification of consumer-relevant mushrooms: A partial solution for product certification?). Despite widely documented instances of erroneous labeling, regulations in the United States currently remain unspecified in regards to labeling requirements for mushroom products.

We are curious as to what producers and distributors are naming the mushrooms they are selling. To get a better handle on which fungi in stores across North America are currently being erroneously named and sold, DNAMA would like your help casting a wide net for sampling. We are interested in all mushrooms and mushroom products that can be legally purchased and mailed across state lines including, but not limited to foods (dried, frozen, canned, fresh-foraged, fresh-cultivated) and supplements (whole and powdered). The mushroom products must be minimally processed (no extracts, tinctures, or flavoring agents) and dried if purchased fresh or frozen.

The cost to you will include the mushrooms/mushroom products and postage. The DNA sequencing and analysis portions will be funded by the North American Mycological Association and our associated volunteers. Join us in this interesting and important work that will help community mycologists inform consumers about product safety!

How to Participate

1 – Purchase Commercially Available Mushroom Products. We are accepting any commercial product that can be legally purchased and shipped across state lines. Consider many sources such as Grocery Stores, Farmers Markets, Apothecaries/Herbalists, Online retailers, and even Headshops. Only products minimally processed will be accepted for sequencing, no extracts or other derived products, powdered is acceptable as long as only one species.

Note: The following mushrooms are excluded, please DO NOT SEND THESE: 

‘Button’ or ‘Cremini’ or ‘Portobello’ – all Agaricus bisporus
‘Shiitake’ – Lentinula edodes
‘Magic Mushrooms’ – Any mushroom products containing the federally controlled substances psilocybin and psilocin

2 – Download the iNaturalist Mobile App – Both Android and IOS versions are available. Check your preferred app store for the download. If you do not have a mobile device, you can participate by utilizing the web interface to report your observations

3 – Join the “Commercial Mycoblitz” project on iNaturalist 

4 – Upload an Observation of the Commercial Product to the iNaturalist Project. Take multiple photos of the product including all labeling on the package/container and/or any associated signs with the name of mushroom (primarily applicable to farmers market or bulk medicinal mushrooms). Take clear pictures of the contents with multiple pieces from multiple angles. For the location please mark the store where you purchased the product.

• Make sure to label it “Captive/Cultivated” 
• Upload photographs of full back and front labels 
• Note as much source data as possible 

5 – Prepare the product for shipment according to the following product-specific protocols:

• Fresh or Frozen Mushrooms: Dry with a dehydrator. Once they are cracker dry (between 2 hours – 3 days, depending on the dehydrator) put the specimen in a Ziplock bag. (See full instructions here: https://fundis.org/sequence/collect-dry/dry-your-specimens but can disregard the FUNDIS specific dataslip and labeling requirements).
• Cultivated Dried Mushrooms (typically one species): entire package or two representative mushrooms/pieces in a Ziplock bag.
• Wild Dried Mushrooms (may be multiple species under one name): entire package or five representative mushrooms/pieces in a Ziplock bag.
• Dried Mushrooms Blends: entire package or just send three representative mushrooms/pieces of each type in a Ziplock bag.

6 – Put the iNaturalist number in the URL of your observations directly on the container (bag, can, etc.) or on the ziplock bag if subsampled. [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/74930818] or bottom of observation on Android mobile / share on iOS to find the ID number

7 – Mail the commercial product samples to:

Joshua Birkebak – NAMA DNA Sequencing Committee
1716 McMillan Street
Knoxville, TN 37917

8 – Specimens must be received by April 1st, 2024.

9 – ITS barcodes will be generated at the Ohio DNA Mushroom Lab and Mycota Labs and published to iNaturalist and Genbank, typically within a few months time.

10 – Note on Identifications: Any identifications made are the sequence validation team’s best judgment determination based on the available evidence at the time of analysis. Identifications and any discussion therein is purely informational and should not be misconstrued as medical or food safety advise. If you are interested in the applicable legal regulations surrounding food and medical products you may contact your country’s food regulation authority, which is the FDA in the United States: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is funding this project?  This project is currently being funded by NAMA through the DNA Sequencing Committee in conjunction with The Ohio Mushroom DNA Lab, Mycena, LLC, and Mycota Lab. If you are interested in donating to fund this project and other projects like it, do so through the NAMA website and be sure to note DNA Sequencing Committee in the comments.

How many samples can I send? 

Up to 20 dried mushrooms or dried mushroom products per person.

Should I collect a mushroom if I cannot identify it?  Sometimes the names of the mushrooms in a particular product can be vague, obscure, or mistranslated but that only makes the results potentially more interesting and important. If you are not sure what it is or it isn’t clearly indicated on the product, you can just call it “Kingdom Fungi” on iNaturalist.

Do I have to upload the photos using the mobile app? You have several options to get your images/reports onto iNaturalist. 1.) You can create reports using the mobile app in the field as you go along. If you do not have cell service, the app will store the individual reports until your phone is connected. 2.) You could take pictures in the field without using the mobile app, and upload individual reports later once you are back at home. (This is often the suggested method, as you don’t have to fuss with as much in the field and can spend more time enjoying nature.) Finally, 3.) You could take images with a regular camera and upload individual reports on the iNaturalist website through your computer browser.

Can you return the specimens that are sent in? Unfortunately, we will not be able to return any specimens that are submitted. We are considering hosting a banquet of sorts at a future event based on the unused remainders of the edible specimens received.

Will this data be uploaded to GenBank?  Yes, every collection that is submitted and that has a DNA sequence successfully generated will be uploaded to GenBank. We will not hold back any DNA sequences from public view for these events.

I have more questions. Who can I contact? DNA@namyco.org