Agaritine content in processed foods containing the cultivated mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) on the Nordic and the Czech market

The level of agaritine was measured in fresh and canned cultivated mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) as well as in other food products containing A. bisporus, by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. The two fresh samples were purchased on the open market and contained 212 and 229 mg/kg, respectively. Of the 35 different trademarks of canned mushroom products studied, 25 were based on cut mushrooms and 10 on whole mushrooms. On average, whole mushrooms contained 14.9 +/- 6.7 mg agaritine per kg product whereas cut mushrooms contained 18.1 +/- 7.8 mg/kg. There was no statistically significant difference between these two values. Agaritine levels in brine were generally slightly lower than the levels detected in canned mushrooms. Thus, the level of agaritine in A. bisporus is reduced more than 10 times during the wet canning process, resulting in low levels in canned products. On a portion basis, somewhat higher amounts of agaritine may be found in some other food products (mushroom soup and pasta sauce) containing A. bisporus.