AHPA updates adulterants guide for star anise

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has updated its known adulterants guidance with the idenitification of Japanese star anise (Illicium anisatum) fruit identified as the known adulterant for star anise (Illicium verum) fruit.

"With this latest listing of star anise, AHPA expands its 14-year leadership in the area of identifying adulterants and creating standards for ingredient authentication under the AHPA Botanical Authentication Program," said Michael McGuffin, AHPA president.

"With the active participation and input from our membership and the in-depth work of three AHPA committees, we will continue to expand the knowledge base around these most important concerns for the trade."

AHPA's Guidance on Known Adulterants was created in 1997, and identifies herbs and potential adulterants that are known to be in trade. The current list of articles of trade and their known adulterants is available on the AHPA website.

Hoodia

Following the recent FTC action against marketers of “unauthentic” Hoodia, AHPA has re-iterated the availability of microscopic, high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) and high-performance liquid-chromatographic (HPLC) analytical techniques to differentiate between authentic and inauthentic hoodia.