Dear Reader,

There has been plenty of news on adulteration for consideration in this new issue of the “Botanical Adulterants Monitor.” New analytical methods to authenticate botanicals and detect adulteration are published regularly, and the Botanical Adulterants Program has reached a new milestone after the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) sent a letter of support acknowledging their willingness to endorse our Program and cooperate with us on a broad international level. The public endorsement of IADSA is a sign of an effort by the responsible members of the international dietary/food supplement industry to work together to improve the quality of herbal supplements. According to ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal, "This endorsement and the cooperation between our Program and IADSA will help take our work on adulteration education to a new quantum level of impact in countries around the world." With regard to other news, we are happy to welcome John H. Cardellina, II, PhD, as a technical consultant and editor to the Program. His wealth of knowledge and years of experience as a natural product chemist will be highly valuable to the Program.

The regulatory section below details two cases from 2013 (from Bulgaria and Germany) and 2014 (from Hong Kong, China) in which products were recalled due to adulteration with tropane alkaloids or tropane alkaloid-containing plant material. While generally rare, a literature review on food-related intoxications found 11 cases concerning contaminations with tropane alkaloids described between 1978 and 2010.¹

The scientific section of this issue starts with a focus on adulteration of anthocyanin-containing extracts. While many industry members have contributed to improving methods for the detection of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus, Ericaceae) adulteration, other materials with anthocyanins have also been subject to substitution or admixture of undisclosed substandard ingredients, as evidenced in the case of black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis, Rosaceae). Other topics covered include the analysis of 57 commercial saw palmetto (Serenoa repens syn. Sabal serrulata, Arecaceae) products, all containing the labeled ingredient although not always the amounts claimed on the label, as well as reports on methods to detect adulteration of African mango (Irvingia gabonensis, Irvingiaceae) fruit, chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus, Lamiaceae) berry, ashwagandha (Withania somnifera, Solanaceae) root, and thyme (Thymus vulgaris, Lamiaceae) herb. Finally, the publication on the alleged presence of undeclared thyroid hormones in dietary supplements was selected as a reminder of the importance to use a sufficiently specific method for the determination of the identity of the analyte of interest.

I hope that this second issue of the “Botanical Adulterants Monitor” will live up to the expectations of Michael D. Levin (consultant at Health Business Strategies, LLC), who commented after the initial publication of this newsletter in June that “this promises to fill a sorely needed educational gap for industry, researchers and practitioners alike.”

Stefan Gafner, PhD

Chief Science Officer, ABC
Technical Director, ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program

1.    Adamse P, van Egmond HP. Tropane alkaloids in food. Wageningen, the Netherlands: RIKILT – Institute of Food Safety; Report 2010.011. Available at: http://edepot.wur.nl/160741. Accessed October 29, 2014.