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:
➡️ Echinacea, which is a group of North American coneflowers used medicinally, with Echinacea purpurea, E. angustifolia, and E. pallida being the primary species. These three overlap in traditional use but differ in details of chemistry and morphology. Modern products often emphasize their immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties and their role in preventing or reducing the duration of common colds and flu-like illnesses.
On the market, consumers can encounter these Echinacea species in several formats. The most common are dried root or herb (whole, cut, or powdered), fluid preparations such as tinctures and hydroalcoholic extracts, pressed juices (especially of E. purpurea aerial parts in Europe), teas, capsules, and tablets, with formulations using either single species or combinations of the three. In North America, encapsulated powders and liquid extracts made from both roots and aerial parts of E. purpurea and E. angustifolia are widely sold as dietary supplements, while in Europe, over‑the‑counter medicines often use fresh‑pressed juice or standardized extracts from E. purpurea herb and roots, and E. pallida root extracts are also represented in regulated products.
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. To see the full PDF post on LinkedIN, go to: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kerry-hughes-941353_echinacea-adulterants-activity-7479549689214808064-9zzK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAANEoEBzLdbgS9fjLoyZvrkZbXD8Nj5SFM