Patent ID: 7943349

Claim:
A method of manufacture of a modified thermoplastic starch from a native starch using a fungus Ophiostoma ulmi sensu lata, comprising the steps of: (a) adding the fungus to a fungal growth medium and growing a culture of the fungus in the fungal growth medium as a shake culture at an agitation rate sufficient to optimize fungal growth for a time period of between 0.5 and 10 days until the concentration of spores produced by the fungus is between 0.1 and 10 g/L; (b) adding the native starch to the fungus culture to form a first mixture; (c) mixing the first mixture at a mixing rate of between 10 and 1000 rpm and a mixing temperature of between 5° C. and 50° C.; and (d) harvesting the modified thermoplastic starch from the mixture resultant from step (c).