The beginning of the 21st century, mushrooms have a particularly favourable position in the food pyramid in the planned target markets of Western Europe and overseas. It is loved and consumed by both traditional and modern diets and its popularity is growing. There are no trends in nutritional science that have negative criticisms of mushroom consumption, but the rediscovered benefits, which are becoming more widely known among consumers, are creating a growing demand for a reliable, high-quality and varied market supply. This demand must be met against the backdrop of a high-output, closed-system, environmentally friendly mushroom production and processing complex supported by state-of-the-art logistics.
FUNGARIA BIO Zrt.'s production technology is an environmentally friendly, sustainable, closed-loop system that is open on both the input and output side, and can be flexibly adapted to circumstances, regional conditions and market needs. For example, on the input side, it can rely on a wide range of agricultural by-products that can be used as compost base, and on the output side, the mushrooms grown can be sold as fresh, preserved or semi-preserved, frozen, semi-finished or finished products, flexibly adapted to the current conditions of the receiving market.
The production process as a whole is chemical-free, sustainable and environmentally friendly and, as the complex is already processing an agricultural by-product, the ecological footprint of the activity will be negative rather than zero at the end of the process, with full utilisation. The energy balance of the facility is optimised for zero emissions in the designed closed system.
The majority of the work processes are manual-intensive and cannot be mechanised beyond a certain level at current tangible and medium-term future technological advances, which is in good harmony with maximising job creation in the current labour market processes and makes a particularly efficient quality assurance system available throughout the process.
The season- and weather-independent design of the production system is unique in the industry in that it is designed to operate continuously throughout the year, without fluctuations in quality and quantity, breaking with the industry framework traditionally burdened by seasonality and the negative effects of extreme, uncontrollable fluctuations. A controlled growing environment, free of chemicals but free of antagonistic microbes and pests, ensures the production of a high value crop that meets the strictest organic quality control standards. Non-over-mechanised processing ensures that quality is maintained.
In addition to the consistent quality of the commodity base assured, the consistent volume is a confident bargaining chip for any market presence and uninterrupted supply. The fact that the mushrooms produced have a limited shelf-life as fresh produce and cannot be pushed out indefinitely even with the most modern packaging and transport solutions used must be taken into account. This factor also limits the time frame for the sale of the fresh produce, but Fungaria Bio ZRt. ensures that the produce is not wasted by using modern preservation methods and by producing processed products in line with the latest gastronomic trends.