Cultivated mushrooms are well-known nutrient inputs for an equilibrated diet. Some
species are broadly appreciated due to their medicinal properties. Lately, a number of novel foods and
nutraceuticals based on dehydrated and freeze-dried powder obtained from cultivated mushrooms
has been reaching the market. The food industry requires fast and reliable tools to prevent fraud. In
this, work we have cultivated Agaricus bisporus sp. bisporus (AB) (white button mushroom), Agaricus
bisporus sp. brunnescens (ABP) (portobello), Lentinula edodes (LE) (shiitake) and Grifola frondosa (GF)
(maitake) using tailor-made substrates for the different species and standardized cropping conditions,
which were individually freeze-dried to obtain the samples under evaluation. The aim of this article
was to validate the use of two different methodologies, namely, electronic nose and sensory panel,
to discriminate the olfactory profile of nutritional products based on freeze-dried mushrooms from
the different cultivated species. Additionally, GC-MS was used to detect and quantify the most
abundant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the samples. The multivariate analysis performed
proved the utility of electronic nose as an analytical tool, which was similar to the classical sensory
panel but faster in distinguishing among the different species, with one limitation it being unable to
differentiate between the same species. GC-MS analysis showed the chemical volatile formulation
of the samples, also showing significant differences between different samples but high similarities
between varieties of the same cultivated species. The techniques employed can be used to prevent
fraud and have the potential to evaluate further medicinal mushroom species and build solid and
trustful connections between these novel food products and potential consumers.
