Irish mushroom ingredients supplier breaks into US market

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©Getty Images - Vladimir Gerasimov (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Irish mushroom ingredients supplier MBio is breaking into the US and Canadian markets via a distribution deal with Brenntag Food & Nutrition.

Brenntag, based in Reading, PA, will distribute the ingredients manufactured by MBio, with is the innovation are of Monaghan Mushrooms Group, an Irish mushroom supplier. The company, founded in the 1980s, now claims a number of major retail grocery chains as its customers.  The company now has more than 3,000 employees spread across Ireland, the UK, Europe and Canada.

MBio, the company’s ingredient development division, was launched in 2012.  The division offers whole mushroom powders and vitamin D mushroom powder. It is also said to have a vitamin B12 and a mushroom protein ingredient under development.

Nutrient dense source

A paper published this year in the journal Food Science & Nutrition found that mushrooms could be a valuable addition to American diets.  The paper, which used NHANES data from the 2011-2016 time frame, found that a 3 ounce (84 gram) serving contributed to an increase in dietary fiber (5%–6%), copper (24%–32%) and phosphorus (6%). 

Other nutrient increases include potassium (12%–14%), selenium (13%– 14%), zinc (5%–6%), riboflavin (13%–15%), niacin (13%–14%), and choline (5%–6%) in both adolescents and adults. 

Addition of mushrooms exposed to UV light to increase vitamin D levels to 5 micrograms per serving (μg/serving) also almost doubled vitamin D intake (98%–104%) and decreased inadequacy, the authors wrote.

https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2021/02/04/Mushrooms-make-up-shortfall-in-dietary-nutrients

“The team at MBio are delighted to be working with Brenntag Food & Nutrition in North America. The United States and Canada are key growth markets for our products,” said Paul Grenville, CCO of MBio. “We see a unique opportunity for our whole food Vegan Vitamin D and B12 Mushroom Powders to create sustainable clean-label solutions for customers.”

“MBio's innovative products are a great addition to our product portfolio and allow us to provide differentiated value to our customers," said Larry Davis, Brenntag’s President of Nutrition Americas.

The US mushroom market was sized at $5 billion in 2017.  Market research firms have pegged its grown potential at 6.3% CAGR through 2023.