Monterey Mushrooms Touts the Benefits of Adding Vitamin D Mushroom Power to Plant-Based Foods
WATSONVILLE, CA - Mushrooms, the revered flavor provider for all things savory. Their meaty taste and chewy texture provides a fabulous replacement for any plant-based burger, but there’s something else to love about the humble fungus—they’re great receptors for vitamin D. Recently, Monterey Mushroom launched a campaign this month to educate retail dietitians and shoppers about the importance of vitamin D to overall health and to share tips on how to get more vitamin D by eating mushrooms.
“It’s a new year, a new decade, a new nutrition facts panel, and so we want to do all we can to educate people about the importance of eating a healthy diet loaded with fruits and vegetables—especially mushrooms,” Lindsey Occhipinti, Marketing Manager, said.
The company created an electronic resource guide book—Everything You Need to Know About High Vitamin D Mushrooms—to educate culinary and health professionals, such as retailers and their dietitians, about the importance of vitamin D. As of January 1, 2020, the Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) requires food companies to replace the information about vitamins A and C on nutrition fact panels with vitamin D and potassium data, according to the press release. That’s good news for the mushroom industry because mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet lights are an excellent source of vitamin D. According to the Dietary Guidelines for America, vitamin D is classified as a “nutrient of public health concern,” because underconsumption has been linked to adverse health outcomes in scientific literature.
“Vitamin C is no longer a nutrient the USDA is concerned about; however, people don’t realize the amount of vitamin D they need in their diets,” Occhipinti said.
Health-conscious consumers can directly benefit from this campaign because Monterey Mushrooms can naturally increase the stable level of vitamin D within mushrooms to 50 percent of the FDA’s recommended daily value by utilizing ultraviolet (UV) light.
Monterey Mushrooms worked with the USDA to create mushrooms with high vitamin D levels by replicating sunlight indoors, which creates a much higher concentration of the vitamin than is normally found in commercially grown mushrooms.
“Exposing mushrooms to ultraviolet light is an extra step during the packaging process, and it distinguishes us from other growers,” Occhipinti said. “We see it as an added value for shoppers, and we hope they will visit our website for recipes that show how easy it is to incorporate vitamin D into their favorite meals.”
All Monterey Mushrooms' sliced white and baby bella mushrooms in 8-oz and 16-oz packages are high in vitamin D, as are packages of 8-oz portabellas.
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