UNITED STATES: Turmeric Adulteration Bulletin Published by ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program

摘要

The ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) has released a Botanical Adulterants Bulletin on turmeric (Curcuma longa) rhizome and its extracts. Few herbal dietary supplement ingredients have seen such a steep sales increase over the past five years as turmeric. Turmeric has been the top-selling dietary supplement in US natural food stores since 2013, and it ranked fifth in sales in mainstream retail outlets in 2017. The earliest reports of turmeric adulteration were published in the 1970s and 1980s and describe adulteration of turmeric with other Curcuma species, starches, and dyes. More recently, the addition of undeclared synthetic curcumin (one of the naturally occurring curcuminoids in turmeric root and rhizome) or mixtures of synthetic curcuminoids to turmeric extracts has been reported. Synthetic curcuminoids can be sold for about one-third of the cost of natural curcuminoids, providing a financial incentive to fraudulent suppliers for diluting or replacing turmeric extracts with synthetic materials.