Commercialization of Vitamin D

Enhanced Mushrooms by UV
Light Treatment
Mushrooms Canada
Guelph Food Technology Centre
 Vitamin D2 Conversion

UV light
Ergosterol Vitamin D2
(pro-vitamin D2) (ergocalciferol)

Vitamin D2 conversion is a function of UV

light energy
 Daily Reference Intake
FDA Health Canada

Infants, children, 200 IU 5µg

men and women (200IU)
aged 19-50
Men and women 400 IU 10µg
aged 51-70 (400IU)
Men and women 600 IU 15µg
over 70 (600IU)
 Target

Vitamin D 400 IU/one serving fresh

mushroom
or
Vitamin D 10µg/100g fresh mushroom
 Variables
„ Variety of mushrooms (agaricus, shiitake,
oyster, enoki)
„ UV energy / unit area (dosage)
„ Intensity (wattage of bulbs, number of bulbs,
distance)
„ Exposure time

Dosage (J/cm2)= Intensity (mW/cm2)) × Time (s)

UVB Treatment Facility at GFTC
 UVB Intensity Decay
UVB intensity decreases with time

1
0.9
0.8
Intensity mW/cm2

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Treatment number

„ Solutions
„ Commercial equipment which delivers consistent UV light intensity
„ Automatic UV intensity compensation
 Vitamin D vs UVB dosage
Vitamin D (IU) vs UVB Dosage (J/cm2)

800

700 692

600

500
VitaminD (IU)

419
400
whiteday3

300

217 brownday3
200
173

100
55.2
45.2
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
Dosage (J/cm2)

„ Day 3 might represent the product at the retail level

 White Button Mushroom
Vitamin D vs Storage time

800

700
676
600
Vitamin D (IU)

500
419 413 1min6bulb20cm
400

300
5min6bulb20cm
222
200
173 159
100

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Day
Brown Crimini Mushroom
Vitamin D vs Storage time

1000
900 910
800
730
Vitam in D (IU)

700 692
600
500 1min6bulb20cm
400
300 289 269 5min6bulb20cm
200 217
100
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Days
Shelf life studies – white mushroom
Day 1
Shelf life studies – white mushroom
Day 3
 Shelf life studies – white mushroom
Day 7

No significant difference in
appearance between the
control and the treated
Shelf life studies – brown mushroom
Day 1
Shelf life studies – brown mushroom
Day 3
 Shelf life studies – brown mushroom
Day 7

No significant difference in
appearance between the
control and the treated
 Sensory Study

„ Triangle sensory evaluation on Day 2

„ Control vs UVB treated
„ Twelve panellists participated the triangle test. Eight
out of twelve couldn’t tell the difference between the
control and the treated. Four out of twelve picked the
right sample. Statistically, there is 1/3 chance that the
panellist will get the right answer even they can’t
taste the difference.
„ sensory panel indicates there is no significant
difference between the control and the treated.
 Microbial test - white mushroom
White control White treated
5m6b20cm
APC 4.30E+04 8.60E+04
E. Coli <1.0E+01 <1.0E+01
mold 1.60E+03 1.95E+03
yeast 5.00E+01 <5.0E+01
S. aureus <2.5E+01 <2.5E+01
Listeria sp. neg neg
Salm. Sp. neg neg
Same order of magnitude between the control and the treated
 Microbial test - brown mushroom
Brown control Brown treated
1m6b20cm
APC > 2.5E+05 > 2.5E+05
E. Coli <1.0E+01 <1.0E+01
mold 9.0E+02 3.0E+02
yeast 5.00E+01 <5.0E+01
S. aureus <2.5E+01 <2.5E+01
Listeria sp. neg neg
Salm. Sp. neg neg

Same order of magnitude between the control and the treated

 Medallion Labs for Vitamin D
Analysis
The frozen mushroom samples were used.
Fractions of the internal standard, D2 and D3
are collected using a semi-preparative normal
phase HPLC column. The fractions are then
concentrated, and the total amount of Vitamin
is determined using reverse-phase HPLC with
UV detection
 Conclusions
„ The target level of vitamin D (400IU/serving) can be achieved
by relatively low dosage of UVB exposure for both white and
brown mushrooms (approx. 0.2 -0.3 J/cm2)
„ This UVB dosage can be applied at relatively low intensity
(0.8 – 1.2 mW/cm2) and in reasonable length of time (2-3 min)
„ Vitamin D decreases during storage but stabilizes at 60-80%
of original level after a week
„ No significant quality difference between the control and the
treated
„ No detectable sensory difference
„ UVB intensity decays with time