Quality Control Matters

For chaga, lion’s mane and reishi we only use premium quality organically grown or wild harvested mushrooms that meet EU certified organic status (that means harvested from areas that are designated officially suitable for organic farming).

Where do our mushrooms come from?

Reishi: Zhejiang province
Lion’s mane: Fujian province
Chaga: Da Hinggan Range (and the forests of Estonia.)

Why China?

It is estimated that China is responsible for over 80% of worldwide mushroom production today and in the mountains in the north of China there has been a tradition of mushroom cultivation for thousands of years. Essentially no-one knows mushroom cultivation and extraction better than the Chinese.

Aren’t there bad mushroom products coming from China?

Unfortunately yes. A lot. It took nearly 2 years for us to find and verify our Chinese partners. They are nice, friendly, professional people who grow certified organic mushrooms on natural substrates (not in labs or giant warehouses!) in a sustainable manner, obviously without the use of pesticides or chemicals or GMO. Their extraction techniques are high-end and perfect to make premium quality organic mushroom extracts to the specifications we require for our clients.

Sadly along the way we encountered a lot of unscrupulous sellers who offer poor quality (mycelium-based or with fillers or additives to help hit numbers that look good in marketing but actually mean little in terms of quality). Others produced fake (or badly inaccurate) data in product specifications and test results. So the moral of the story… be very careful who you buy from!

Cultivation

Hardwood (Chinese linden) logs are used as the food base for our organic reishi.
Organic cotton seed hulls are used to cultivate organic lion’s mane.
Chaga is harvested from the wild.

Cultivation mostly takes place in open air greenhouses with natural light and a constant stream of fresh air.

When they are in prime condition the fruiting bodies are hand harvested and either sun-dried or placed in a dehydrator.
Then, pre-extraction, the mushrooms are tested for contaminants e.g. local pollution. Whilst the area of cultivation is clean, you can never be too careful!

Extraction

All our mushrooms are dual extracted in both pure, filtered water and alcohol. Our aim is to secure a broad spectrum of both water and alcohol soluble components.

The dual extract liquid is then spray dried to produce a concentrated soluble powder.

We extract at a ratio of 15:1 for chaga and lion’s mane which means 15g of dried mushroom produces 1g of soluble extract powder. Reishi is 20:1.

Chaga and lions mane extract powders contain more than 20% Beta Glucans 1,3/1,6. Reishi is more than 30%.

We can produce other extract strengths to suit client requirements for a minimum of 25kg.

Our organic reishi extract powders are also analysed for triterpenoids.

Packing and processing takes place in a HACCP controlled environment

Testing

In China, the raw materials and extracts undergo complete microbial testing for bacteria, yeast, salmonella, mould, e-coli, coliforms, heavy metals, pesticides and more.

Once a COI (certificate of inspection) is issued by Eurofins (to ensure all is as it should be) the data is entered to the TRACES database (TRACES is the European Commission’s online platform for sanitary and phytosanitary certification required for imports).

Then our approved organic extract powders are sent to Estonia where we send them to LABRIS ( which is The Veterinary and Food Laboratory – a state agency operating in the area of government of the [Estonian] Ministry of Rural Affairs) for further testing and spot checking results from the Chinese tests.

In Estonia our organic oral sprays and liquid extracts are made at ISO-Standard facilities, and our tinctures are made at HACCP controlled facilities. Testing for these products is also conducted by LABRIS.

Ready to be sold

MUSHEEZ provides finished mushroom extract products and ingredients that are clean, certified organic, and we like to think, among the highest quality and best value in Europe.

No mycelium, no grain, no starch. No fillers. No artificial additives. Just pure, potent powder and liquid extracts.