The Mushroom Powder Scam: What you need to know

Medicinal Mushrooms have been getting a lot of well-deserved attention lately for their health benefits — and for good reason. These powerful fungi offer real, research-backed support for immunity, brain health, energy, and more.

UNFORTUNATELY Many Mushroom Powders on the Market Are Mostly Filler.

So what’s going on?

The Mycelium-on-Grain (MOG) Problem

Instead of using only the actual fruiting body of the mushroom — the part rich in beneficial compounds — many companies use mycelium grown on grain, then grind it all up and sell it as “mushroom powder.”

This is known as MOG: Mycelium on Grain. It’s cheap, easy to produce, and heavily marketed — and it contains very little beneficial medicinal compounds.

Why Is This Happening?

Most companies selling mushroom products have no hands-on experience with growing mushrooms which means they rely entirely on bulk suppliers without understanding the important differences.

During my own investigations, I found several companies that were knowingly mislabeling their products and misleading customers. These brands were even found at our local health food stores and recommended by the staff working there simply out of ignorance and lack of expertise on this subject.

What Is Mycelium on Grain (MOG)?

Mycelium is the root-like network of a fungus. In some species, it eventually produces a mushroom — known as the fruiting body — which is where many of the health-boosting compounds are found.

MOG producers grow mycelium on grains like oats. They grind up the entire grain-and-mycelium mass, dry it, and sell it as “mushroom powder.” They claim the grain is fully “digested” by the mycelium and that there is no more oats in final product — but that’s simply not true. If you shake a MOG

block, you’ll clearly see oats still inside.

Here’s a video I made to show you.

Why Is This a Problem? While mycelium does have medicinal compounds, there is no way to separate the mycelium from the grain, so when the product is tested for medicinal compounds the results show 90% starch(filler) levels, and only 10% medicinal compound levels. This issue goes far beyond someone getting ripped off financially and in fact can have serious health consequences. Imagine you or your loved one has cancer and you learned about Turkey Tail mushroom helping cure cancer, so you spend a bunch of money and precious recovery time on fake mushroom powder. Here you can see test results done on mushroom powders VS MOG The MOG is on average 90% starch levels.

Why Are They Doing This?

•  Profit. It’s drastically easier and cheaper to grow mycelium on oats than to cultivate real mushrooms. MOG yields more bulk, costs less, and can be sold to companies who repackage it into “mushroom” capsules, drinks, or blends — often at premium prices.

• Lack of expertise: Most companies selling mushroom products don’t grow mushrooms or have real knowledge on the subject. They rely on suppliers and often fall for misleading marketing themselves.

  
  

How to Protect Yourself

Simply being aware of this issue is not enough to decipher the marketing tactics used by these companies. So go over these points

• Read labels carefully. Watch for vague language or any mention of “mycelium”, “cultured on grain.” or “full spectrum. This is a guarantee that it’s MOG based product and may be mostly filler.

• Avoid multi-ingredient blends. Even if they contain real mushrooms, the amount is often tiny — not enough to make a difference. For exp, there might be a coffee replacement or plant based powder beverage, They will super advertise that there is mushrooms in their product but yet are at the very bottom of the ingredient list and being in the microgram amount.

• Skip the capsules and tinctures. These are often underdosed. For exp. based on research I have seen a proper serving is around 2 grams or 1 Tsp. Capsules hold about 0.2g — 1/10th of a proper dose- meaning you would have to swallow 10 capsules to get a 2 gram dose...yuck

  
  
  
  

• Brands Boasting and Bragging Big Buzz words - Not that this is inherently bad but often they are just manipulating you with what you think you want to hear so they can gain your trust, and therefore business. “Proudly Manufactured in USA” “Proudly Canadian Operated” "Locally Sourced" Or similar phrases eluding to that they grow mushrooms. But this doesn’t mean what you think it does When they say "Proudly manufactured in Canada, that just means they packaged it in Canada, not that they grew anything themself, or that the mushrooms are even from Canada. Or another example is “Our mushrooms are sourced from local growers right here in the USA baby!” So just because they sourced from USA doesn’t mean it's good,  in fact the main filler filled powder company I have investigated is based in the USA, so even when they are telling the truth, they are misleading/lying and when you call them out on it, they lie some more.
  

Example of deceptive advertising

“Organic Mushroom Powder – Lion’s Mane, Chaga / Mycelium Cultured on Oats” It sounds good — but it’s mostly oats.

And yes — oats are gluten-free. So even a “gluten-free” label doesn’t mean there’s no grain inside.

Bottom Line

Your Trusted Mushroom Supplier

Don’t be fooled by the hype. If you're paying for medicinal mushrooms, make sure you’re actually getting them — not just ground-up grain with a sprinkle of mycelium.

I’m passionate about educating people and offering 100% pure fruiting body mushroom powders through my farm, because I KNOW mushrooms have real healing potential and not just marketing buzz.

Mush Love, and Keep Spreading the Good!

 – Dan the Mushroom Man