Research To Extend Shelf-Life Of Mushrooms
UNIVERSITY PARK -
Research at The Pennsylvania
State University may lead to a new
method of marketing fresh
mushrooms that could increase
their shelf-life, price and consumer
demand.
Storing mushrooms at tem
peratures between 32 and 38
degrees Fahrenheit could extend
mushroom shelf-life by as much as
five days, according to Dr. Robert
B. Beelman, professor of food
science.
“With this project we want to
demonstrate what improvements
in shelf-life could be made by
controlling temperature and using
a separate storage unit,” Beelman
said. “Mushrooms are more
perishable than most produce.
With hard data like this we hope to
convince grocery managers to
adopt a different style of
displaying mushrooms. ’ ’
Beelman’s research is partially
funded through a challenge grant
from the Advanced Technology
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Washed mushrooms deteriorate
even more readily than dry-packed
mushrooms, Beelman said,
especially when stored at elevated
temperatures. “This is mainly due
to bacteria,” he added. “These
bacteria like humid conditions. As
a result the growth rate of bacteria
is higher with an increase of
moisture at a higher tem
perature.”
“Grocery store marketing has
been heading toward mass display
of produce,” he said. “Maybe to
increase the impulse purchase or
the idea of ‘great bounty’ or eye
appeal. But as mushrooms
deteriorate, their eye appeal goes
down and the consumer is less
likely to buy them.”
Beelman will test the ef
fectiveness of an open-faced
refrigeration case a Pinnacle
Upright Merchandiser in
maintaining the low temperatures
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needed to slow mushroom decay.
The PUM looks like the freezer
cases now present in grocery
stores, but without the door, he
said, adding: “An air curtain is in
front. Cold air blows up the front. It
keeps the mushrooms cold but
doesn’t impede the consumer from
reaching in and grabbing.”
“We’re really just getting
started on this. We want to assess
whether the PUM will keep them
cold when filled with the product.
“We also want to test how ef
ficiently the PUM uses electricity.
The mushroom grower would
provide the unit and would need to
show test results of the amount of
energy per week it uses. Perhaps
it’s less than the unit that stores
them now, even with the lower
temperature employed.”
Beelman said he will also test
new additives for use in washing
mushrooms. Sodium sulfite had
been used to wash mushrooms
before the FDA banned the
chemical in August. “So now it is
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difficult to wash the product and
have it look nice,” he noted. “The
sulfite had helped in preventing
browning.”
The Sno-Top Mushroom Farm
Inc., Wampum, Pa., is cooperating
in Beelman’s research. He said
that research in cooperation with
Penn State plant pathologists has
“come up with a number of things
they can do to manipulate the
growing process to extend the
shelf-life. It has to do with the
number of bacteria on the
mushrooms when harvested due to
the way they’re watered.”
Sno-Top workers have begun
using some of the Penn State
recommendations, according to
Michael Swanik, company
president.
“We’re trying to make ob
servations about the effects by
noting color, cleanliness and shelf
life,” Swanik said. “But at this
stage it may be too soon to tell.
We’re only a month or so into this
project. But the initial impressions
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we get are favorable.”
The increased mushroom shelf
life would enable companies such
as Sno-Top to deliver less
frequently to grocery stores.
“They want to increase the time
that mushrooms will look good,”
Beelman said. “So that instead of a
twice-a-week delivery they could
deliver once a week.”
“Part of the problem with the
mushroom industry is over
production or underconsumption,
depending on how you look at it.
Improvements in growing prac
tices have resulted in a high yield
which means low prices for the
growers. But the consumer still
pays a high price because the
grocery store has a lot of loss.”
Swanik said he hopes the Penn
State research will help his
company to sell a larger per
centage of its mushrooms on the
fresh market. “We’d like to induce
more people to eat mushrooms and
induce people to eat more
mushrooms. We want to increase
consumption as well as the price
growers get for their mushrooms.”
Burleigh Tops
Wayne
County DHIA
HONESDALE - Kevin
Burleigh, Pleasant Mount had the
leading dairy herd in the Wayne
County Dairy Herd Improvement
Association in the December test
period, according to the Wayne
County Cooperative Extension
Service. The herd of 44 Holsteins
had a rolling herd average of 21,002
pounds of milk and 855 pounds of
fat.
Other top herds were: James
Slocum, Susquehanna, 20,164 milk
and 806 fat; Jack and Ella Chyle,
Pleasant Mount, 20,271 milk and
732 fat; Charles P. Dennis,
Honesdale, 20,154 and 713 fat;
Kinghill Farm, Starrucca, 17,652
milk and 709 fat; Rowe Brothers,
Honesdale, 19,506 milk and 701 fat;
Golden Willow Holstein,
Honesdale, 20,749 milk and 700 fat;
Robert Fielding and Son, Lake
Ariel, 18,732 milk and 696 fat; Paul
Kennedy, Honesdale, 20,317 milk
and 686 fat; and James Wood
mansee, Lake Como, 17,919 milk
and 682 fat.
The cow completing the highest
lactation of 305 days or less during
the December test period was a 4-
year-old Holstein owned by Kevin
Burleigh, Pleasant Mount. “Ellen”
produced 23,377 pounds of milk and
1,281 pounds of fat.
Other top producers were
number 5 owned by Michael
Nebzydoski, Pleasant Mount,
23,498 milk and 992 fat; “Tillie”
owned by Robert Fielding and Son,
Lake Ariel, 23,024 milk and 918 fat;
“Taffy” owned by Paul Harrison
and Sons, Moscow, 24,995 milk and
905 fat; “Flossie” owned by Don B.
and Wm. R. Bryant, Honesdale,
23,290 milk and 904 fat; “Lynn”
owned by Anthony Worobey,
Preston Park, 24,206 milk and 881
fat; “Glenda” owned by Kevin
Burleigh, Pleasant Mount, 21,053
milk and 876 fat; “Babe” owned by
Allan Schnakenberg, Equinunk,
18,428 milk and 857 fat; “Cher”
also owned by Allan Schnaken
berg, 19,630 mUk and 852 fat; and
“Ora” owned by George Schmidt,
Preston Park, 24,016 milk and 842
fat.
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