ABSTRACT
Aims: Lovastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug produced by several filamentous fungi as a secondary metabolite. Its concentration in mushroom can be affected by many post-harvest processes. In this study, fruiting bodies of Pleurotus ostreatus grown on corn cobs were used to evaluate the effect of conservation techniques on their lovastatin concentration. Methodology: acid and blanching treatments combined to different processes of fruiting bodies conservation like sun drying, oven drying and canning by autoclave cooking were tested to evaluate their effect on lovastatin concentration. Results: Sun drying, oven drying at 60°C/70°C and canning using autoclave cooking at 100°C did not significantly affect lovastatin concentration. On the contrary, oven drying at 80°C caused the reduction of this compound up to 45.4% with respect to fresh product irrespective of the precedent use of citric acid or blanching treatments. Also, during canning, the use of autoclave heat treatments at temperatures 110 and 121°C for 15 minute caused a significant reduction of lovastatin concentration of about 52.2% and 48.9% respectively compared to the control. In this regards, it can be concluded that processes that use dry thermal treatments higher than 80°C and autoclave heat treatments higher than 100°C will contribute to the reduction of lovastatin, the cholesterol-lowering compound in Pleurotus ostreatus.