Endorsements continue for Botanical Adulterants Program as AOAC International announces support

10-Jun-2015 - Last updated on 10-Jun-2015 at 22:15 GMT

The ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program has published peer-reviewed articles on the history of adulteration, adulteration of the herbs black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, pictured above) and skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) fruit extract and so-called “grapefruit (Citrus x pradisi) seed extract".

Related tags Botanical adulterants program Adulterant

The AOAC International has endorsed the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program, following a unanimous vote by the AOAC Board of Directors in April.

The botanical adulterants program is a collaboration of the American Botanical Council, the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, and the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi.

The program is supported by over 165 companies, independent laboratories, schools and institutes of natural medicine, media, law firms, and trade associations, including this publication.

“AOAC International’s industry partners represent a broad spectrum of interests, including dietary supplements and natural products,” wrote AOAC board president Erik Konings, PhD, and executive director E. James Bradford, PhD, in a letter to Mark Blumenthal, ABC Founder and executive director. “As such, we encourage efforts which aim to strengthen the industry using responsible and science-based approaches in communication and education.

“AOAC supports The Botanical Adulterants Program’s focus on educating industry, researchers, health professionals, regulators, and other interested parties with respect to the confirmation of types of adulteration and evaluation of analytical methods,” they continued. “We look forward to a long relationship with the American Botanical Council and the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program.”

AOAC International was founded in 1884, and has grown from a US government agency establishing methods for chemical analyses for agricultural fertilizers to an international association of government, academic, and industry professionals encompassing a wide array of scientific disciplines.

“We are deeply grateful and highly honored to have AOAC’s endorsement and participation in our Botanical Adulterants Program,” said Blumenthal, who is also the general manager of the Program. “AOAC is one of the world’s most highly respected standards-setting bodies, and their recognition of the goals and educational activities of our Program will help us move further towards increasing the international impact of our educational efforts.”

James Neal-Kababick, director of Flora Research Laboratories and Fellow of AOAC, stated: “The endorsement by AOAC of the Botanical Adulterants Program [BAP] continues the global recognition by scientific bodies that this program has received.

“[T]he pharmacognosy world [has] a stake in the problems, [and] AOAC has been tapped to help address some selected clandestine adulteration in dietary supplements as well as economic adulteration…. Understanding how to ensure that adulterated material is not released into the food supply chain is critical and the BAP is making major inroads with its collaborative teamwork.”