Processing Technology and Products of Poria cocos in China
Abstract:Poria cocos,named Fuling in Chinese,is a kind of raw material in traditional Chinese medicine,and is also approved as food by the Ministry of Health. The fresh steaming process has almost replaced the traditional ″sweating″ process and has become the mainstream primary processing technology. Poria cocos could be processed to various products in different ways for different functions,such as Bai-Fuling,Chi-Fuling,Fuling-Pi,Fried-Fuling and Cinnabar-Fuling. It is widely used in the ancient prescriptions,and formed some famous Chinese medicine products,for instance Guizhi-Fuling Pills. Among the first 100 Classical prescriptions edited by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine,the ones with Fuling as main raw material account for 24%. There are 776 kinds of functional foods using Fuling as raw material,whose main function includes immune regulation,relieving physical fatigue and improving sleep. There also forms a comprehensive development system of Fuling,involving common foods,cosmetics,veterinary drugs and feed additives. Investigation of quality control,standardization of processing and specification of product function will be the trend of the development of Fuling.