Recent advances in quality preservation of postharvest mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus): A review

Background: Agaricus bisporus is the mushroom with the highest global production yield. However, due to their natural unprotected structure, shelf-life of this kind of mushroom is quite short. During the postharvest period, mushroom experiences continuous quality degradation, presenting discolouration, moisture loss, texture changes, microbial count increasing, and nutrient and flavour loss. In order to maintain the postharvest quality and to extend the shelf-life of mushroom, postharvest preservation techniques including physical, chemical and thermal processes are essential. Scope and approach: This review summarises quality degradation processes of mushrooms including moisture loss, discolouration, texture changes, microbial count increasing, and nutrients and flavour loss, analyses their influential factors including temperature, relative humidity, water activity, and respiration rate, and presents the preservation methods for mushrooms including drying, cooling, packaging, irradiation, washing, and coating. Key findings and conclusions: The quality degradation process of mushrooms is complex, which is affected by both the inner factors related to mushroom itself and the outer factors related to storage conditions. For better preserving their postharvest quality, hybrid methods such as thermal techniques combined with physical or chemical techniques and novel non-thermal technologies including plasma, ultrasound and high pressure treatments are highly recommended.