Cordyceps nutrition equivalent to mushrooms? Secret industry hidden rules

The myth of blood swallows has just been punctured. The two-day-old tonic Cordyceps sinensis, which was very hot, was also exposed by the media. Its actual nutritional value is comparable to that of mushrooms. However, industry experts revealed that due to the high price, Cordyceps is often added by unscrupulous merchants to heavy metal substances harmful to the human body to increase the weight. In any case, the price of Cordyceps has been ridiculously high compared to its own value.

Market: Cordyceps price is twice the price of gold. The myth of blood swallows has just been smashed, Cordyceps is immediately connected, and the company has taken a stab at the forefront of the leap for the past two years. According to the “Beijing Morning Post” report, in the retail market in Beijing and other places in the past years, the higher specification Cordyceps retail price was over 600 yuan per gram, equivalent to 600,000 yuan per kilogram, and the price was crazy. According to public information, the wholesale price of Cordyceps sinensis in the market of Lhasa in Tibet has exceeded 200,000 yuan per kilogram, while the retail prices in Beijing, Sui and Shanghai are more than 700 yuan per gram, and the price is twice that of gold.

At the Tibet Autonomous Region Economic Work Conference held on December 26, 2011, the Tibet Autonomous Region announced that in 2011, the output of Cordyceps militaris in Tibet was 45,000 kilograms worth 3 billion yuan, while the production of Cordyceps sinensis accounted for 70% of the national output -80 % According to the statistics of the local agricultural department in Qinghai Province, the largest province in the country, only the turnover of Cordyceps sinensis market in Xining City will reach RMB 10 billion per year.

Ms. Wang Xiaofei, who runs a pharmacy store in China Textile City in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, introduced that her highest-priced gift box Cordyceps sinensis sells for more than 60,000 yuan, but such a price is not too high, and the high-quality price can reach tens of thousands or even more. high. The bulk of Cordyceps sold by g, according to product size, price per gram from two hundred to five or six hundred, although the price is not cheap, but there are many who are interested. According to Wang Xiaofei, Cordyceps is the most popular product in her shop. Her main place of purchase is Xining, but even if he counts as a connoisseur, he is taking too many goods, but the profit is still considerable. Usually two kinds of people buy, one is a gift, buy gift boxes, tens of thousands of thousands of buy, in addition, some gifts of Cordyceps did not eat, but was recovered again, once again enter the Cordyceps transaction process. Another is the rich people buy bulk, because Chinese medicine point of view, as a Chinese medicine, Cordyceps need long-term use will have effect, and occasionally taking will not have much effect.

Laws and regulations: Cordyceps may not be used as food raw materials. Dong Liangjie, an environmental expert at the University of Hawaii in the United States quoted “International Journal of Medicinal Fungi” on Weibo, saying that the nutritional value of Cordyceps sinensis is mainly amino acids, vitamin E, B1 and B12, and the medicinal value is being studied. Among them. However, the unspoken rules of the entire industry are that wild Cordyceps is generally added with metal to increase the weight. In the past, it was wearing iron wire, which could be detected by a magnet; now it is lead powder and tin bar, which is not detected by restaurants. Wild Cordyceps sinensis added heavy metal lead and tin electrodes is a common phenomenon, now developed to the naked eye can not distinguish the lead powder, so "Stewed Cordyceps may be a pot of lead soup."

For the safety of Cordyceps has been in doubt, the relevant state departments explicitly prohibit Cordyceps as food for sale. According to public information, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine had organized experts to discuss and believed that currently, Cordyceps is lacking as a safety assessment study data for long-term use of food, and it is recommended that it should not be used as a food raw material. The Health Supervision Center of the Ministry of Health also emphasized that Cordyceps can be used for Chinese herbal medicines, but Cordyceps sinensis has not been approved as an ordinary food material. In December 2010, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the "Notice that Cordyceps sinensis must not be used as an ordinary food raw material." It is strictly forbidden to use Cordyceps sinensis as a food raw material to produce ordinary food. In addition, the Ministry of Health had already stipulated in the “Notice on Further Regulating the Management of Raw Materials for Health Foods” as early as 2002 that Cordyceps sinensis was only included in the list of health foods and was restricted to use, but only belonged to “herbal medicines that can be used in health food”. . None of these Chinese herbal medicines can be used as ordinary food raw materials.

However, although the quality inspection department imposed restrictions on Cordyceps sinensis, it was strongly supported by the agricultural sector. It is reported that the Cordyceps sinensis project of the Cordyceps Research Group of the Institute of Plant Protection of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences was also included in the 2007 National Spark Program and 2007 Key Project Application Guidelines; from 2003 to 2005, the Plant Protection Research Institute of Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The Cordyceps sinensis research group was even subsidized by the National Science and Technology Ministry's achievements transformation project. From June 28 to July 4, 2010, the Grassland Supervision Center of the Ministry of Agriculture went to Sichuan Province to carry out the investigation of Cordyceps sinensis resources. At the end of last year, the "International Cordyceps Research and Information Center" was established. The center is anchored in the Grassland Supervision Center of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China. In addition, sub-centers in India, Bhutan, and Nepal will also be established.

Expert: Cordyceps nutritional value is equivalent to mushrooms?

But in any case, consumers are most concerned about the Cordyceps event, is Cordyceps in the end there is no use, but also do not eat?

In this regard, some experts believe that the medicinal value of Cordyceps, like common mushrooms, is entirely attributed to the fact that the price of Cordyceps has pushed up the price of Cordyceps. Moreover, the current publicity of Cordyceps has catered to the social psychology of people seeking health care and increasing wealth. To a large extent, the rise in Cordyceps prices has been exacerbated.

Cordyceps is equivalent to mushrooms and may not be accurate. Some Chinese doctors believe that Cordyceps, together with ginseng and antler, is listed as the top three Chinese tonics. It is known as the only traditional Chinese medicine that can balance and regulate yin and yang. Although modern studies show that the nutrient composition is similar to that of a common edible fungus, the active substance contained in the treatment itself still has the value that other fungi cannot match. "It's just exaggerated."

Scientific squirrels will introduce that Cordyceps sinensis larvae are infected by Cordyceps sinensis. Some cell and animal experiments have shown that it has some hypoglycemic and anti-cancer effects, but has not been clinically proven by the body. Among them, Cordycepin, 3-deoxyadenosine, which is the main active ingredient, namely mannitol, has long been industrially produced. Mannitol has also been widely used in medicine. It is a good diuretic and high-permeability antihypertensive drug and is commonly used for clinical rescue, especially for brain disease. It is also used in foods. Mannitol is a raw material for food anti-sticking powders, and it can also be used as a low-calorie, low-sugar sweetener for foods for diabetics, bodybuilding foods and the like. It can be said that the active ingredients of Cordyceps simply do not have to be obtained from Cordyceps, and people inadvertently eat a lot.

Cordyceps falsification four means â–  consumption guidelines and blood swallows, Cordyceps also exists dyeing and weight gain industry unspoken rules.

According to Zhang Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration of Qinghai Province, for the media, the annual demand for Cordyceps is 500 tons, but the actual output is only 15 tons. The falsification of the Cordyceps market is worrying. Cordyceps falsification mainly has four means: First, in the authentic Cordyceps sinensis plus alum to increase weight adulteration. Adulterants soaked Cordyceps sinensis in the alum, so that the grass surface has a layer of milky white, solidification and play a role in weight gain. Second, with other types of Cordyceps posing as Cordyceps sinensis. Some people use the Asian incense stick Cordyceps militaris in Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Cordyceps militaris in Xinjiang. Third, with artificial cultivation of Cordyceps mycelium, made of nutritional supplements, posing as pure natural wild Cordyceps nutritional supplements. Fourth, with flour, corn flour, starch, gypsum and other materials, using a special model of Cordyceps mold into a model, and then coloring and drying, posing as genuine Cordyceps sale.

Wang Xiaofei, who runs a pharmacy in Tibet, introduced that Cordyceps is a natural growth mushroom, so it is impossible to have uniform color, and it is impossible for each root to grow in the same color. Some dyed Cordyceps will have a uniform color and should be observed during purchase. In addition, in general, a full-filled Cordyceps is the best, and it must be complete. There are generally eight pairs of feet on the insect body of Cordyceps sinensis. The middle four pairs should be particularly prominent. This is a good quality Cordyceps.

How to identify weightless Cordyceps Inferior Cordyceps sinensis is mainly contaminated with impurities, including uncleaned sediment, bamboo sticks, grass sticks, and shiny glue used to splic broken Cordyceps sinensis. Some insert wire and fuses to increase body weight. Or inject mercury, etc., but also in the base of the sub-clad soil, mixed with iron powder, lead powder and other metal powder.

Identification methods: (1) Use metal detectors. (2) Hand feels heavy (requires experience). (3) Slightly immersed in water, black particles can be seen off and quickly sink, and the off-takes are observed under a microscope and can be seen as metal powder. Alum soaked with heavy metal detectors can not find out, need to see the color, weight to identify, with alum soaked in Cordyceps sinensis will have a layer of milky white surface.