Hong Kong Student Science Competition 2002
Tin Shui Wai Government Secondary School
Why fungi may act as an alternative
source of protein from meat?
•Suitable for vegetarians
•Short of land for animal husbandry
•Higher production rate
•Relative low saturated fatty acid & toxin
•Fit human digestive system more
•Contain cellulose, vitamins
•Can be use in medicinal aspect
Project
Section 1:
Section 2:
Consumer survey
Scientific research
Section 1: Consumer survey
Part 1: Survey on price
Part 2: 65 people were interviewed through
telephone
Result
Ammonia content of foodstuff
Number of mole of
ammonia/10E-4 mole
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Fungi
豬肉
菜心
蘿蔔
蘑菇
舞龍
鮮冬菇
草菇
雲耳
大球蓋菇
秀珍菇
茶樹菇
鮑魚菇
雞脾菇
木耳
新鮮小蘑菇
猴頭菇
燒烤大蘑菇
金針菇
竹笙
雪耳
0
Section 1: Consumer survey
Part 1: Survey on price
Part 2: 65 people were interviewed through
telephone
Understanding of fungi
Yes
No
Number of people
35
30
Percentage/%
54
46
Table 1: Understanding of present of protein in fungi
Yes
No
Number of people
2
63
Percentage/ %
3
97
Table 2: Understanding of protein content among different fungi
The most important factor consider when
choosing fungi
43%
57%
Taste/Appearance
Nutritive value
Responses of consumers
31%
No
Yes
69%
Section 2: Scientific research
Part 1: Investigation on protein content
Part 2: Identification of amino acids
Kjeldahl Method
•Digestion
•Distillation
•Titration
Procedure
1.Ground and dried of sample
2.Refluxed with conc. H2SO4
heat
Protein + H2SO4(l)  CO2(g)+H2O(l)+ (NH4)2SO4(aq)
3.Alkalization of mixture & distillation of
ammonia
(NH4)2SO4(aq)+2NaOH(aq) 2NH3(aq) +Na2SO4(aq)+2H2O(l)
NH3 (aq) + HCl (aq)  NH4Cl (aq)
4.Titration of excess HCl against NaOH
NaOH(aq)+HCl(aq) NaCl(aq)+H2O
Result
Ammonia content of foodstuff
Number of mole of
ammonia/10E-4 mole
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Foodstuff
豬肉
菜心
蘿蔔
蘑菇
舞龍
鮮冬菇
草菇
雲耳
大球蓋菇
秀珍菇
茶樹菇
鮑魚菇
雞脾菇
木耳
新鮮小蘑菇
猴頭菇
燒烤大蘑菇
金針菇
竹笙
雪耳
0
Amino acid
Essential
•Must obtain
from diet
Non-essential
•Can synthesize
by our bodies
Procedure
1.Digestion by reflux
2.Spotting of sample
3.Developing of solvent
4. Solvent front was
marked & filter
paper was dried
5. Sprayed with
ninhydrin &
dried in oven
6.Rf values was calculated
Result
茶樹菇
竹笙
雞脾菇
冬菇
猴頭菇
大球蓋菇
菜
Alanine Dopamine
(0.22)
(0.83)
┼
Tyramine
(0.72)
┼
Methionine Phenylalanine
(0.41)
(0.45)
Tyronsine
(0.31)
Threonine Iso-leucine
(0.37)
(0.52)
┼
┼
┼
┼
┼
┼
┼
┼
┼
┼
Key:
( ) is the reference Rf value of individual amino acids
“┼” indicates amino acid is present
Amino acids highlight in red colour is essential
Table 6: Amino acid present in foodstuff
Social Effects
茶樹菇, 猴頭菇 and 鮮冬菇 have reasonable
high protein content with respect to meat
What is the advantages for substitute
meat with fungi?
•Increase the total food supply
•Fungi recycle dead organic matter
•Suitable for developing countries
•Good way to get protein in places
with geographical problem
•New source of protein for vegetarian
Further investigation
•More foodstuff can be investigated
•Other groups of nutrients can be checked
•Environmental factor affect the growth of
fungi
•Two dimensional paper chromatography
•Effects on cooking & processing
Conclusion
茶樹菇, 猴頭菇 and 鮮冬菇 contain high
protein content and reasonable prices, they
were found to be a good alternative sources
of protein.
Dishes of fungi