Quality concept
Not all medicinal mushrooms are the same
There are significant differences in the quality of medicinal mushrooms, and these are not always immediately apparent to consumers.
At HAWLIK, we produce with decades of experience and the highest quality. It's worth taking a closer look at the quality criteria. When it comes to mushroom cultivation, the dosage form , the cultivation location , the quality of the soil and climate , the growing material , the ripening time , and experience all determine the quality of the medicinal mushrooms.
We grow in untouched nature
China is the cradle of medicinal mushrooms and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Medicinal mushrooms have been an integral part of TCM there for thousands of years – much like champagne, which is truly authentic only from the Champagne region.
In addition to optimal climatic conditions, our farmers have access to millennia-old knowledge of TCM-compliant cultivation and ample time for the ripening process. Clean air and clean water are important prerequisites for healthy mushroom growth.
HAWLIK's premium medicinal mushrooms are cultivated in the pristine natural surroundings of the Chinese highlands, far from cities and urban centers. Our products do not contain any laboratory-grown mushrooms (except for Cordyceps Sinensis CS-4 and Polyporus). As a leading European producer, our products are analyzed in Germany using the latest methods and are permitted to bear, among other things, the quality seal of the independent, state-accredited laboratory group AGROLAB. Our incoming goods inspection, analysis, and subsequent production of our finished products take place within GMP-certified environments in Germany and Austria. These are therefore more stringent than the requirements for dietary supplements. If you would like to view our quality analyses, we would be happy to send them to you free of charge.
Absolute transparency is part of our company policy. With us, Reishi, Shiitake, and other mushrooms can grow in their natural habitat and fully develop their valuable ingredients. Our medicinal mushrooms grow here under optimal natural conditions. Naturally, without the use of pesticides and other chemicals. Harvested and sorted by experienced hands, only the best fruiting bodies make it into the capsules.
Here, Reishi, Shiitake, and other mushrooms can grow in their natural habitat and fully develop their valuable ingredients. Our medicinal mushrooms grow here under optimal natural conditions. Naturally, without the use of pesticides and other chemicals. Harvested and sorted by experienced hands, only the best fruiting bodies make it into the capsules.
Ingredients and analytics
Not all suppliers can test the active ingredients (such as polysaccharides) in the final product or declare them correctly. At HAWLIK, we can verify ingredients using unique analytical methods that have been developed with dedication and passion over 20 years.
Our ingredients, such as polysaccharides, are analyzed and confirmed by a GMP-Pharma certified laboratory in Germany.
Our incoming goods inspection also takes place in a GMP-pharma-certified environment in Germany, thus exceeding the requirements for dietary supplements. All raw materials also undergo an SEC identity test (our so-called fingerprint). This ensures that the specified mushroom species was actually processed.
All batches are tested by the state-accredited AGROLAB laboratory group according to the latest standards and are therefore entitled to bear the AGROLAB quality seal. Each mushroom is tested for over 250 parameters, such as pesticides, heavy metals, radioactivity, PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and microbial contamination.
Another quality criterion is standardization. Current analyses show that commercially available medicinal mushroom products are declared to contain 30% or 40% polysaccharides, but the actual content of water-soluble polysaccharides is far below this value. This is less due to deliberate deception than to a lack of know-how or analytical methods. Such fluctuations are unfortunately the norm and make controllable and therefore responsible dosing impossible. HAWLIK guarantees: What is stated on our packaging is what is contained in our products – nothing else.
Some suppliers also process the growing material (e.g., millet) with the product (more on this under residue controls). This significantly dilutes the ingredient information, as in this case, the polysaccharides from the grain are also included, making it impossible to determine a purely mushroom-specific value. The positive effects of the medicinal mushroom therefore play a significantly less important role. Furthermore, the price of these products is then no longer justified, as the customer ultimately pays more for grain starch than for medicinal mushrooms.
Residue controls
Continuous quality controls accompany our raw materials from the cultivation area to the product range. Shortly after harvesting in China, the mushrooms we use are checked for purity on-site.
Each batch is tested for heavy metals, pesticides, and other microbiological contaminants. Upon arrival in Germany, the state-accredited, certified, and independent AGROLAB laboratory group in Bruckberg near Landshut receives samples from each batch.
There, the samples are tested a second time for pesticides, heavy metals, radioactivity, PAHs, and microbiological contamination in accordance with German food law. This test covers approximately 250 different parameters. This means we have established significantly stricter control criteria than those stipulated by German food law. The certification of individual batches allows us to trace the raw materials of our products from the finished capsule to their place of origin.
If you would like to see our quality analyses, we would be happy to send them to you. Absolute transparency has been the foundation of our actions for 40 years.
We are the only manufacturer to analyze the so-called "fingerprint" of each raw material. This special procedure, called "SEC identity testing (size exclusion chromatography)," ensures which medicinal mushroom is actually being processed. Using the SEC method, the polysaccharides are measured, which are displayed in a chromatographic distribution curve. Similar to human DNA, this allows each medicinal mushroom to be uniquely identified.
We determine growing material & nutrient medium
Mushroom cultivation begins with the careful preparation of substrates. A substrate refers to any type of nutrient medium. Generally, the growing material can consist of wood, wood chips, straw, but also grains such as millet or rice, and even sawdust.
When selecting the culture medium, HAWLIK draws on millennia-old, traditional Asian knowledge. This ensures that the perfect culture medium (substrate) is always found for each different type of mushroom. For use as a substrate, the substrate is sterilized under heat, crushed, and hand-filled into a protective cover. This allows the use of pesticides to be completely avoided during the mushroom growth process!
This allows the medicinal mushroom to grow under optimal conditions and develop the vital substances that are essential to us humans. This ancient, traditional knowledge is indispensable and an important quality criterion when purchasing medicinal mushrooms.
We advise against consuming mixed products*. If substrates such as millet, rice, or grains are processed, the quality suffers. These products consist largely of starch or propagation material. HAWLIK products do not contain substrate: With us, you only pay for valuable ingredients without unwanted byproducts. *Mixed product = product in which the entire mushroom culture, including substrate/nutrient medium, is processed. You can find out more about this under "Guaranteed Purity."
"Only medicinal mushrooms of strictly tested quality guarantee no additional burden for patients."
Anne Wanitschek, alternative practitioner and mycotherapist
We allow the mushroom full time to mature
Like a fine wine or a delicious cheese, medicinal mushrooms also need sufficient time to mature to their full potential. Different mushroom varieties require different amounts of time for the mushroom's valuable fruiting body to fully develop. A shiitake mushroom takes about five months to fully ripen, and a reishi mushroom takes as long as eight months. A ripening time that not every medicinal mushroom supplier grants their products.
It's not for nothing that medicinal mushrooms, whose use has been firmly anchored in TCM for centuries, thrive best in their country of origin, China. Contrary to conventional prejudices, the country of origin of most medicinal mushrooms still boasts vast expanses of untouched nature. There, in the Chinese highlands, far from cities and urban centers, the medicinal mushrooms of classical TCM find ideal conditions for growth and maturation.
In the Chinese highlands, medicinal mushrooms thrive in their natural habitat under perfect climatic conditions. This allows all the important and typical mushroom compounds, such as polysaccharides and beta-glucans, to develop optimally.
The medicinal mushrooms are cultivated and cultivated by families whose knowledge of optimal growing conditions has been perfected and passed down for generations. Sustainably and with a quality that is unparalleled in the medicinal mushroom market.
Extract or powder
Some medicinal mushroom suppliers have differing opinions on the use of mushroom extract or powder, each touting their own product as the only correct choice. However, both powder and extract have certain advantages and disadvantages.
Since every person reacts differently and therefore takes a different path, depending on the area of application, either powder or extract or a combination of both can be the right choice.
As experts with decades of experience working with therapists, doctors, and world-renowned clinics, we know how to handle this. With the powder, no ingredients are lost during processing, and the spectrum of ingredients is broad. This is especially important for preventative use or for detoxifying or purifying effects. However, many polysaccharides/beta-glucans cannot be utilized in powder form, as they are bound by cell walls in the mushroom powder.
Chitin is protected, and the human body does not have chitinase to break down the chitin. The importance of cultivation, the culture material, and the associated purity of the mushroom powder can be found under Quality Feature 7. During extraction, the aforementioned cell connections are dissolved or broken down by hot water, releasing and concentrating the polysaccharides typical of mushrooms. The indigestible fiber portion (e.g., parts of the chitin) is then strained out and disposed of. Polysaccharides are the most potent bioactive substances in the mushroom, which is why extracts are most effective here. Scientific studies on the use of medicinal mushrooms with extracts prove the activity of these dietary supplements. HAWLIK offers the largest selection of medicinal mushroom products for targeted use by mycotherapists. In addition to medicinal mushroom meal, powder, and capsules, we also offer extracts in capsules and in liquid form. Combinations of powder and extract are also very popular.
Source image: Jörg Nitschke, Extraction and characterization of cell wall-bound polysaccharides from fungi, 2011
Polysaccharides and ß-glucans are enclosed between the chitin cell walls of fungi. These bonds and cross-links can be broken through extraction, thus releasing the water-soluble (bioavailable) polysaccharides and ß-glucans.
"When selecting medicinal mushroom extracts and powders, attention must be paid to the origin, the cultivation method, and the associated quality. The concentration of the mushroom-typical ingredients depends essentially on these parameters."
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Michaela Döll, medicinal mushroom expert
We guarantee purity
There are significant differences in which parts of the mushroom—fruiting bodies and/or mycelium—enter the raw material processing. Many suppliers process the entire mushroom culture, including the propagation material, and thus incorporate it into their products. Manufacturers refer to the propagation material with pseudoscientific names such as "extracellular matrix," "full spectrum," "full life cycle," or even "holistic mushroom." Typically, it is simply a cheap nutrient medium inoculated with mushroom mycelium, made from sawdust, grain flour, rice, corn, or millet.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a guideline to prevent so-called "MOG – Mycelium On Grain" products (e.g., mushroom mycelium with millet or grain growth medium) from being labeled as mushrooms. This is misleading, as these products have a different identity than pure mushrooms (Compliance Policy Guide, Section 585.525)*.
This method of production allows manufacturers to produce large quantities at low cost. The consumer is left with the disadvantage: instead of a valuable medicinal mushroom product, they are merely purchasing a blend.
Thanks to clever marketing, the impression is created that the purchase is a particularly "holistic" product. However, the following aspects are problematic:
I. Scientific studies and analyses available to us show that the information on polysaccharide content is sometimes higher than it actually is.**
II. The stated content of polysaccharides consists only partly of valuable fungal polysaccharides, the rest of the ingredients come from the grain (nutrient medium).
III. Water-soluble and non-water-soluble polysaccharides are often simply added together. This is misleading, as non-water-soluble polysaccharides are not bioavailable and are excreted by the body. In HAWLIK, the stated proportion of ingredients is always water-soluble and therefore bioavailable.
After all, when making flour, only parts of the ear are ground—namely, the grain and husk—and not the entire plant, including the stalk, leaves, and root ball. The important difference in quality therefore lies in the details.
"Holistic" and "sustainability" are a given for us and form the basis of our actions. We were the first in Europe to address the question of what an optimal medicinal mushroom product should be, and we have continuously developed this approach over the past 40 years.
* https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-section-585525-mushroom-mycelium-fitness-food-labeling
**Wu et al. 2016. Evaluation on quality consistency of Ganoderma lucidum dietary supplements collected in the United States. Scientific Reports.
Vital quality based on crystallization images
Crystallization images reveal the internal order of substances of all kinds. The better the crystallization of the substance, the better its vital energy. An independent laboratory compared one of our medicinal mushroom products with a commercially available product that was cultivated on a grain substrate and then powdered and encapsulated along with this substrate. Our product from the Chinese highlands, which consists only of the fruiting body and contains no nutrient medium or substrate, produces very harmonious crystallization images. The difference to the crystallization images of a commercially available product that contains a high proportion of mycelium and growing material (e.g., "extracellular matrix," "whole mushroom," "full spectrum," "biomass") in addition to the fruiting body, is astonishing. (For more information: lifevisionlab.ch ). The SAT method is the standardized method for researching the ordering power in water, food, and other substances, perfected by the Swiss food pioneer Soyana over 15 years. A sample liquid is prepared from a product using a standardized protocol. The resulting liquid is placed as droplets in a test tube and dried under consistent conditions, resulting in crystallization. The ordering power contained in the food determines how the minerals are arranged. This is how HAWLIK produces clearly structured images.
We use
indispensable experience
When it comes to cultivation, HAWLIK relies on long-term partnerships with audited local farms. This is a trusting, long-term collaboration that pays off in terms of quality. Through regular visits and constant exchange, the traditional knowledge of local farmers is an invaluable asset in HAWLIK's premium medicinal mushrooms. Therefore, the cultivation region is an important quality criterion when purchasing medicinal mushrooms.
For example, a new study from North America shows that products from the Chinese highlands perform better than products from countries that have no tradition of producing TCM medicinal mushrooms. According to this study, the ingredients of a majority of medicinal mushroom products manufactured in the USA (compared to the reference mushrooms from the country of origin, China) do not meet the declared quality standards***.
***https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06336-3
Conclusion
A look at the market for medicinal mushroom suppliers reveals that the quality of medicinal mushroom products varies greatly. So choose your supplier carefully.
With HAWLIK's premium medicinal mushrooms, you're always on the safe side: Our products are given the time they need to ripen. Experienced farmers harvest the most valuable part of the mushroom at the ideal time, which has previously been ripened on propagation material appropriate to the mushroom species.
The result is medicinal mushrooms of the highest quality with a maximum of valuable ingredients.
We guarantee this and are independently audited.
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