R.J.
We've eaten tons of it. Great stuff. Never heard about any controversy (sigh... now I have to google).
<laughing> Okay... it's a SEMANTIC controversy. MOST people don't know that a mushroom is a fruiting body of the actual fungus (like an apple is the fruiting body of an apple tree... or that a chicken's ovaries are the fruiting body of the chicken). In all truth the mycelium (the tree or the chicken attached to the fruiting apple or ovary) makes up the BULK of most fungi, and is a white thready part located underground or in the wood that the mushroom is growing on... or just lives without mushrooms at all. In fact, the largest living organism on the planet is a "mushroom" (actually the mycelium) that is spans a couple of states. As in states that make up the united states. The thing is enourmous. Most mycelium colonies/areas/what have you are nowhere near as large. If you grow chantrelles or shitake or whatever in your basement just break apart the block to see the white threads. Not all fungi produce mushrooms (think yeast for bread, for a common example). Quorn is made from the mycelium of an edible fungus.
Anyhow...Their competitors are claiming a lack of truth in advertising my translating "myco" (which essentially means mushroom... but technically means fungus) in "mycoprotein" as "mushroom in origin" instead of "fungal in origin". They're also mucking about by claiming that not all fungus is edible (in fact many are deathly posionous... but this is just muddying the waters... not all plants are edible EITHER. But do strawberry farmers go around to peach markets and talk about how not all plants are edible? No. It's stupid. But the soy farmers are doing so about the mycelium that makes up Quorn because we (as a society) know less about mushrooms than we do about peaches, so they're hoping we'll freak out).
It's a marketing thing. Fungal sounds less attractive than Mushroom, so their soy competitors want them to use fungal.
Fun question. They joys of capitalism / business rivalry. :)
EDIT TO ADD: I'm not taking the complaint that 10 people in this country have had an allergic reaction seriously. Pick any substance from watermelon (which I'm allergic to) to peanuts to cats to wheat and you can find at least 10 people who are allergic or who have an adverse reaction to it.
