Do the mushrooms bought at the vegetable market really contain formaldehyde?

Some people on the Internet have tried to test the formaldehyde content in edible fungi. In these videos, many bloggers claimed that formaldehyde was detected in edible fungi such as shiitake mushrooms, white jade mushrooms and enoki mushrooms. After seeing this, many viewers developed a fear of edible fungi, fearing that eating them would cause cancer, and said they would never dare to eat edible fungi again.

So do the edible fungi sold on the market really contain formaldehyde? Is eating these edible fungi harmful to health? Let's analyze the truth of this matter together.

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Formaldehyde is a colorless organic compound with a pungent odor and is highly toxic. According to the production pathway, formaldehyde can be divided into exogenous formaldehyde and endogenous formaldehyde .

Exogenous formaldehyde is artificially added to food, while endogenous formaldehyde is produced by the food itself. In the past, some unscrupulous businesses used formaldehyde as a preservative and bleaching agent in pursuit of economic benefits, thereby extending the storage time of edible fungi, preventing them from rotting and improving their color. These illegal acts have indeed brought adverse effects to our food safety.

However, as market supervision gradually intensifies, formaldehyde, as a compound with a special pungent smell, is easy to detect. It is basically no longer used as a preservative , and few businesses are willing to take the risk of breaking the law. Therefore, many people can basically conclude that the formaldehyde detected in edible fungi is not exogenous formaldehyde .

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Since it is not exogenous formaldehyde, it can only be endogenous formaldehyde. In fact, many animals, including ourselves, produce formaldehyde during the process of biological metabolism . At present, many scientists have discovered that edible fungi themselves will produce trace amounts of formaldehyde according to changes in the natural environment. Therefore, it is normal for some people to detect trace amounts of formaldehyde in edible fungi.

Since endogenous formaldehyde is produced during biological metabolism and exists naturally in many foods, will it be harmful to the human body? The answer is no. Because under normal circumstances, edible fungi have basically disappeared after being rinsed beforehand and cooked at high temperature for a long time. Even if there is a trace amount of residue, it will not be toxic to the human body and can be eaten with confidence.

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Review | Han Hongwei, Director of the Communication Department and Researcher of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center