Quality Assurance
Quality assurance
Medicinal mushroom products can vary greatly in quality, often in ways that aren’t visible at first glance. With decades of expertise, we are committed to delivering uncompromising, premium-grade products.
The image below provides a clear comparison between the key pillars of our quality standards and common practices found in some competing products on the market.
WOWFUNGI
✅ Mushroom-Specific Substrates
Each mushroom is cultivated on a substrate precisely suited to its species, ensuring optimal development of its beneficial compounds.
✅ 100% Pure Fruiting Body
The final product is made entirely from the mushroom’s fruiting body*, guaranteeing a concentrated source of mushroom-specific active ingredients.
✅ Exceptional Quality and Testing Standards
Every batch undergoes rigorous testing in GMP-compliant facilities, including specialized SEC analysis designed exclusively for mushrooms, carried out by the accredited independent laboratory group XXXXX.
✅ Comprehensive Residue Monitoring
Our products are subject to thorough quality control at every stage—from cultivation to final delivery—to ensure they remain free of unwanted residues.
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Competition
Uniform Substrates
Use of generic, non-specific growing mediums leads to mushrooms with low concentrations of vital bioactive compounds.
Inferior Mixed End Product
The final product is often a blend of mushroom and large amounts of substrate—containing non-mushroom materials like grains or millet—which dilutes the concentration of active ingredients.
Basic Testing and Quality Standards
Quality checks are limited to occasional spot tests, with little to no residue analysis or comprehensive batch traceability, as not legally mandated.
Irregular Quality Control
Residue and contaminant testing is done inconsistently, if at all, increasing the risk of impurities.
You can always trust that our products contain 100% pure mushrooms—precisely the species you ordered, with no fillers or substitutes.
What defines a premium medicinal mushroom?
Quality Factor 1: Ideal growing conditions using substrates tailored to each mushroom species
Producing a high-quality medicinal mushroom starts with cultivating it in a clean, natural environment using substrates specifically suited to each mushroom variety.*
Each mushroom is also allowed the time it needs to mature fully shiitake takes around five months, while reishi may need up to eight.
Unfortunately, not all producers allow their mushrooms the necessary time to develop properly.
If a mushroom is grown in a polluted area, on the wrong substrate, or harvested too early, it may not develop its full range of beneficial compounds and could even carry harmful residues.
*Note: Certain mushrooms in our range are wild-harvested.
Quality Factor 2: A high-quality mushroom product is predominantly derived from the fruiting body
Some producers of functional mushrooms process the entire fungal culture—including both the mycelium (the mushroom’s root system) and the fruiting body—into their products.
These processed materials are often marketed under misleading, pseudo-scientific terms like “extracellular matrix” or “full spectrum.”
Additionally, some suppliers cultivate mushrooms on grain-based substrates such as rice, corn, millet, or flour, and grind the entire mixture—substrate included—along with the fruiting body.
This approach allows them to significantly reduce production costs by incorporating cheap fillers, resulting in large volumes of so-called “functional mushroom” products.
We refer to these as “so-called” because the final product is a diluted mixture, not a pure mushroom extract. Therefore, it cannot guarantee the same level of effectiveness as a 100% mushroom-based product.
Moreover, in the EU, mushroom products containing mycelium powder are classified as “Novel Food,” which means they require special regulatory approval before they can be legally sold.
*Cordyceps is a notable exception, as it is cultivated using a different process.
Quality Factor 3: The highest effectiveness is found only in products rich in mushroom-derived polysaccharides
When buying medicinal mushroom raw materials, it’s crucial to ensure that the polysaccharides and beta-glucans come exclusively from mushrooms. While this might seem obvious, it’s not always the case.
Studies have shown* that products grown on starch-rich substrates like wheat often contain grain-derived polysaccharides rather than those specific to mushrooms.
Many common testing methods struggle to differentiate between starch-based and mushroom-based polysaccharides. As a result, some low-cost, lower-quality products may show high polysaccharide levels—sometimes up to 50%—by lumping both types together.
In contrast, the polysaccharide content in our products reflects only the mushroom-specific polysaccharides, a distinction we can clearly demonstrate using our specialized analysis techniques.
*Wu et al. 2017. Scientific Reports: Evaluation on quality consistency of Ganoderma lucidum dietary supplements collected in the United States.
Quality Factor 4: Our mushroom raw materials undergo continuous analysis from cultivation through to final production
We closely monitor the purity and quality of our raw materials at every stage—from cultivation in China to final delivery to our customers.
Once the materials arrive at our warehouse in Austria, samples from each batch are examined microscopically either by Dronania Pharmaceuticals or the state-accredited, independent laboratory group XXXXX.
Unlike random spot checks, we test every individual batch for more than 250 potential contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides like ethylene oxide and 2-chloroethanol, radionuclides, microbes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, you’ll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about our cultivation methods. If you don’t see your question answered here. Feel free to explore all our FAQs or contact us.
What is mycelium?
Mycelium refers to the entire network of hyphae—the thread-like cells that make up a mushroom. In fact, the majority of a mushroom’s mass is composed of this mycelium. The fruiting body, which appears above ground and is commonly used in natural medicine and cooking, serves solely for reproduction. Mycelium typically grows beneath the surface or within decaying wood and can expand to enormous sizes.
Is the mycelium less potent than the fruiting body?
The composition of the fruiting body and the mycelium is largely similar, but the concentration of key active compounds is typically higher in the fruiting body. This makes the fruiting body more potent overall. For instance, triterpenes—compounds known for contributing to both the bitterness and the therapeutic strength of reishi—are predominantly found in the fruiting body and are scarcely present in the mycelium.