Transparency and Traceability of Raw Materials
Minimum Standards
Raw material sourcing is planned and coordinated
Routine testing procedures are implemented for authenticity, adulteration and contamination, including tests for the following:
- Appearance, moisture, ash, acid-insoluble ash
- Pesticides testing utilising (GC-Ms, GC)
- Organochlorines
- Organic Phosporus
- Pyrethrins
- Heavy Metals and Harmful Ingredients Testing (ICP-MS, AAS)
- Heavy metals – lead chromium, copper, mercury
- Hazardous ingredients – Arsenic
- Tests conducted for heavy metals and pesticides/herbicides for each batch
- Active or significant ingredient testing e.g. testing for hyperforin content in Hypericum perforatum (St Johns Wort)
Best Practices
Quality
- Standardisation of seed selection (e.g. exact species, subspecies and variant), propagation, soil type, cultivation, harvest conditions, drying and processing
- Upstream activities so that in addition to quality control in processing there is also an agricultural/planting source framework to control the resources of high quality herbs.
- Determine quality of origin to establish quality assurance and stability
Establish uniform standards for management of contaminants, adulterants, substitution
Transparency
- Development of quality and traceability systems.
- Sources of raw materials are named and guaranteed.
Traceability
- Origin of each batch is known and traceable
- Field visits to identify the genuine source of herbal raw material
- Product security, authentication, identification for individual products, individual product security.
- Barcode systems for each single herb.
- Every bag of raw material is tagged with standalone product bar code and quality information
- Transaction security, tracking, tracing, pedigree, chain of custody security.
- Tracing country of origin, manufacture date, quality inspection report.
- Chemical marker of single herb to protect chain of custody for extraction of herbs.