Botanical authentication program tackles common adulteration in elderberry extracts with new bulletin

23 Jun 2023 --- The US Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) has published guidance on adulterating European elderberries and their extracts to inform companies’ R&D, quality control and purchasing departments and help ensure the ingredients’ authenticity.

The bulletin summarizes published data on the species’ adulteration and analytical methods to detect it.

Adulterating elderberry preparations commonly involves adding undisclosed black rice (Oryza sativa) extracts, which can be up to 30 times cheaper than genuine elderberry extracts. There are also reports of substitution with other anthocyanin-rich plant extracts and blue or purple food colorants. 

“It was a fairly clear choice to be the topic of one of our Botanical Adulterants Prevention Bulletins,” Dr. Stefan Gafner, co-author of the bulletin and chief science officer at the American Botanical Council, tells Nutrition Insight. 

“European elder (Sambucus nigra) berry extracts are among the best-selling botanical ingredients in the US market, adulteration appears to be quite common and a number of papers were available reporting on the authenticity of commercial dietary supplements labeled to contain European elderberry extract.” 

“European elderberry extracts are mainly used to treat symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, such as the cold and flu,” Gafner continues. “The adulteration does not change the indication and use per se, but an adulterated product is unlikely to provide any health benefits to the consumer.” 

The bulletin also includes information on the plant’s taxonomy, therapeutic uses, supply chain or value network and market importance. 

Image Caption17.1% of samples adulterated
The bulletin summarizes available data on European elderberry extract adulteration, explains Gafner.

“Of 694 samples analyzed, 119 (17.1%) were considered adulterated based on the assessment of the authors of the six publications with reported data on the authenticity that we were able to find.” 

Elderberry supplements grew in popularity in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the US, they were 2021’s top-selling herbal dietary supplement in mass-market chains and the third best-selling botanical ingredient in natural retail stores, with sales estimated at US$305 million. 

Gafner highlights: “We don’t know if the adulteration rate has increased over the past few years compared to, for example, the years before the COVID-19 pandemic since we do not have enough data on European elder supplement authenticity from the years up to 2020.” 

Advice to businesses 
Gafner notes there are several important factors to avoid adulteration. 

“One is to know the supplier really well, understand where the berries are coming from, how they are processed and how the supplier ensures the quality. This is done by building long-term relationships with the suppliers and doing regular, unannounced and thorough vendor audits.”

“Another important aspect is to have a robust quality control program in place and to have a series of fit-for-purpose analytical tests (discussed in the BAPP laboratory guidance documents) to ensure that the ingredients purchased are authentic.”

Gafner recommends businesses stay informed about adulteration risks, for example, through the Botanical Adulterants Prevention Bulletins. 

“These bulletins, and the BAPP newsletter, are intended to be an easy way for industry members (and other interested parties) to learn about which ingredients are at risk of being adulterated, and what some of the red flags for adulteration may be – for example, low pricing ranges, deviations in organoleptic properties or chemical composition.”

Gafner urges businesses to know their suppliers well to ensure elderberry authenticity. Elderberry supplements 
For consumers, it is not easy to figure out if a product labeled to contain elderberry extract is authentic, cautions Gafner. 

He explains that products containing clinically tested elderberry extracts are at low risk of adulteration. 

“Buying from established, reputable companies is also a good practice. In contrast, purchasing supplements that sell on price (low price) may put the consumer at a higher risk of getting low quality or adulterated products.”

Furthermore, the bulletin includes data on elderberry sales from the US, which showed a big jump in sales from 2019 to 2020, with over triple-digit sales increases in both the mass market and natural channel, Gafner details.

“We don’t have data from other geographical locations, but anecdotal evidence suggests that elderberry extracts have become more popular in certain European countries, although not to the extent seen in the US.” 

“Elderberry dietary supplement sales have stayed flat or have decreased a bit since 2020, but elderberry is still among the top-selling botanical ingredients in the US.”

Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program 
The current guidance on elderberry is the 27th bulletin and the 81st peer-reviewed publication published by the program. Other bulletins and laboratory guidance documents include guidance on ginkgo biloba extract and Indian frankincense. 

Gafner explains that deciding which ingredients to cover in the program is usually based on discussions among the program’s partners, the American Botanical Council (ABC), the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi, US. 

“The highest priority is given to ingredients where the adulterant poses a safety risk. For example, the adulteration of skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) with liver toxic germander (Teucrium) species was one of the first bulletins to be released by BAPP.”  

Elderberry extracts are mainly used in cold and flu-related symptoms.“The next criterion is the importance in the market, with those botanical ingredients having a larger share of the dietary supplement and herbal medicine market having a higher priority.” 

He continues that other criteria include the amount of available data from peer-reviewed journals and industry reports – ingredients with more data are more likely to be covered – and the estimated adulteration frequency, where ingredients with a higher risk are prioritized. 

“We have two or three more bulletins that we hope to publish in 2023. The most advanced are the Botanical Adulterants Prevention Bulletins on cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) and extracts, and on rose essential oil (Rosa x damascena) adulteration.” 

Adulteration in the industry 
An ABC paper published earlier this year indicated that suppliers of intentionally adulterated botanical ingredients use shortcomings in commonly used laboratory methods. 

“If the entire herb and dietary supplement industry consisted of ethical players – of which there are many – we wouldn’t need BAPP’s efforts to help reduce and eliminate the sale of adulterated and fraudulent ingredients,” adds Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC. 

“Unfortunately, history tells us time and again that there are individuals and companies whose pursuit of profits outweighs their commitment to the welfare of consumers who use products with questionable ingredients. Fortunately, there are many responsible companies that do care about quality and the consumer experience.”

By Jolanda van Hal