Abstract
Japan’s food industries and households combined generate approximately 22,000,000 tons of food waste per year. Currently only about 36% of this waste is being recycled as fertilizer, feed for farm animals or used in some other ways. The development of novel ways for utilizing this waste is required in order to promote its recycling. In this study, we have developed a procedure that can utilize food waste as the culture medium for Bunashimeji mushroom (Hypsizygus marmoreus). We compared raw kitchen waste (vegetable scraps), cooked waste and banana pericarp as the culture media. Among these, the culture medium prepared from raw kitchen waste was the most appropriate for mycelium growth, while all types of waste were useful in the fructification process. Furthermore, fructification was successful when we used frozen mycelia and culture media from vegetable scraps, which suggests the possibility of developing a mushroom cultivation kit. These results provide insight into a novel utilization of food waste that not only increases recycling, but also produces a high -value-added commodity.
