This post series on botanical ingredient adulteration is inspired by the excellent work coming out of the Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) by the American Botanical Council (ABC), continuing today with:
➡️ Grape seed extract (GSE) is made from the seeds of Vitis vinifera grapes, typically recovered as a byproduct of juice and wine production. It is valued for its phenolic compounds, especially flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins (PACs), and is used as an antioxidant-rich ingredient in dietary supplements, functional foods, and nutritionally enhanced beverages. Clinical studies suggest GSE may support platelet function, endothelial function, and blood flow, but results depend on the particular extract and dose studied.
On the market, GSE is supplied almost exclusively as a dry extract, generally produced by extracting fresh or, more commonly, dried grape seeds with water or water-alcohol/acetone mixtures and then spray-drying the filtered extract. These powders are incorporated into capsules, tablets, powdered blends, functional-food products, and beverages; commercial extracts commonly contain about 50–90% phenolic compounds and may be further characterized by their PAC content.
For companies, confirming identity is not optional; it’s a legal and ethical duty under cGMPs to verify that each incoming botanical is the right species, the right plant part, and meets agreed quality specs. Brands and manufacturers should be leaning on resources like the BAPP adulteration bulletins and implementing fit-for-purpose analytical methods, rather than relying on nonspecific tests that can miss plant-part adulteration.
Adulteration, in the regulatory sense, means a product is unsafe or of inferior quality because it fails to meet legal standards for purity, strength, or composition (including contamination).
Economic adulteration is emphasized in these posts: intentional substitution, dilution, or undeclared additions that misrepresent a botanical’s true identity or quality compared to what the label and consumer would reasonably expect. Accidental adulteration is also present in some species.
For more detailed information on adulterants in botanicals, see the BAPP publications, which are freely available on their website. Access the full downloadable PDF Post here on LinkedIn: