ABC Member Advisory

September 24, 2014

American Botanical Council Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal gave the keynote address at the 128th Annual Meeting of the AOAC International on September 8th in Boca Raton, FL. An estimated 900 people attended the conference, most of them analytical chemists involved in developing and validating laboratory analytical methods for foods, botanicals, and other consumer products.

Blumenthal’s speech outlined the work of the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program, the global quality control consortium that was initiated by ABC with the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi. The Program, now in its fourth year, is an international educational initiative intended to reduce the level of accidental and intentional adulteration of botanical raw materials used in dietary supplements and other consumer products.

During the speech, Blumenthal gave examples of various herbs sold in the North American marketplace in the past 20 to 40 years that are known to have been adulterated with lower-cost materials. Such practice, when carried out intentionally and without the buyer's or user’s knowledge, provided an economic benefit to the seller and, in absence of the expected benefits, an economic detriment – and, sometimes, a potential health risk – to the buyer and user.

Blumenthal discussed various herbs that the Botanical Adulterants Program had already identified as being adulterated, citing articles on the Program’s webpage describing the adulteration. He also presented data on numerous herbs that scientists involved in the Program currently are researching for future publications to bring the adulteration to the attention of industry members, laboratories, researchers, and others.

With respect to the identication of appropriate analytical methods in the laboratory to properly authenticate botanical materials and detect suspected adulterants, Blumenthal noted that the Program was about to publish the first in its new series of Laboratory Guidance Documents in which all publicly available laboratory analytical methods on herbs that are known to be adulterated will be summarized and evaluated for their appropriateness in the current botanical dietary ingredient market. He also said that the Program had determined that there are at least 20 methods for skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) and 31 for black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, syn. Cimicifuga racemosa), two herbs that already have been identified by the Program as adulterated and for which extensive articles have been published in ABC’s peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram.

Blumenthal emphasized that the Program’s efforts are geared toward helping industry labs identify appropriate methods for analysis that are fit for their purpose, which includes their having the ability to detect recently introduced types of adulteration. Some of the older methods, he noted, will not be able to detect some of the more sophisticated types of adulteration, and if a company relies on such an older method, it could produce a false quality control report with respect to improperly and erroneously authenticating a sample of some herbal material provided to the company by a supplier. In such cases, he noted, the company may be fooled by the adulterant and end up purchasing a large quantity of the herb (or extract). If the company already has processed this material into capsules or tablets, and has distributed it through the various channels, this would require a recall resulting in significant costs and damage to the company’s reputation, as well as potential harm to some of the company’s customers.

Blumenthal explained that the Botanical Adulterants Program’s forthcoming Laboratory Guidance Documents are not in any way competitive with the AOAC’s process of validating laboratory methods – a process in which multiple laboratories conduct analyses using the same analytical method to determine the method’s repeatability and reliability. He suggested that the two groups might wish to work together in the future on such projects of obviously mutual interest.  

Several AOAC officials gave high praise for Blumenthal’s presentation. According to Jim Harnly, PhD, a chemist at the United States Department of Agriculture and outgoing president of AOAC, “Mark gave a great talk, as usual. His passion and expertise are always inspiring and his humor serves to make a highly enjoyable and informative presentation.”

“Mark Blumenthal was a great choice for our keynote speaker,” said E. James Bradford, PhD, AOAC executive director and CEO. “He was both informative and entertaining in helping our members see the bigger picture regarding botanicals and adulterants. I look forward to increased collaboration with ABC.”

"Mark Blumenthal's keynote speech at the recent AOAC Annual Meeting was passionate and inspiring,” said Darryl Sullivan, director of Scientific Affairs at Covance, an independent analytical laboratory, and past-president of AOAC. “I have heard Mark talk many times, and I always learn something new. I received numerous comments during the meeting from colleagues who were impressed with his lecture and the information that was presented."

“I felt deeply honored to have been invited to give the keynote address at AOAC,” said Blumenthal. “I realized that of the many hundreds of speeches I have given in my life as an advocate for responsible manufacture and use of herbal medicines, this speech represented one of the most significant. For many years I have had a high level of respect for the excellent work that AOAC performs, and this was the first time that ABC and AOAC have ever had any direct contact. I am hopeful that this is the beginning of a new relationship for ABC and the Botanical Adulterants Program, and, based on the positive comments I received afterwards, I believe this is quite possible.”

About AOAC International

Founded in 1884, AOAC International is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that has over 3000 members in 90 countries. It was formerly known as the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, and before that was the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. It was previously a division of the United States Food and Drug Administration. The organization is a voluntary standard-setting group that produces method performance requirements and reviews and approves analytical methods with a current emphasis on infant formula and adult nutritionals, foods, and dietary supplements. More at www.aoac.org.