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Contamination & Substitution
There are two serious problems associated with raw herbs:
- Contamination with micro-organisms and heavy metals, (such as lead, copper or mercury)
- Substitution of cheap non-therapeutic plant products for the real herb (such as radish for Ren Shen).
Contamination levels in raw herbs which have caused concern in recent years are
virtually eliminated by the dynamic extraction process with tests for micro-organisms
confirming that there is no trace of escherichia coli, salmonella or staphylococcus
aureus. Heavy metal levels are minimized by selection of uncontaminated soils for herb
cultivation and are less than 1/10th of levels deemed acceptable by the WHO and NHMRC
Drinking Water Guidelines and are guaranteed not to exceed the following:
| Arsenic (As) | <0.000003 mg/L | (c.f. WHO 0.01 mg/L; | NHMRC 0.007 mg/L) |
| Copper (Cu) | <0.008 mg/L | (c.f. WHO 2.0 mg/L; | NHMRC 2.0 mg/L) |
| Lead (Pb) | <0.000008 mg/L | (c.f. WHO 0.01 mg/L; | NHMRC 0.01 mg/L) |
| Mercury (Hg) | <0.0000005 mg/L | (c.f. WHO 0.001 mg/L; | NHMRC 0.001 mg/L) |
Contamination is also a factor in the end-handling of raw herbs: in China raw herbs are treated with sulphur to
kill micro-organisms and when imported must undergo a fumigation process which affects the
property of the herb. Granulated herbs are not treated with sulphur nor do they undergo
fumigation. Herb substitution is a serious problem in China and even experienced herbalists
have difficulty in identifying many raw herbs with certainty. Each herb has its own unique
identifying spectrum 'fingerprint'. Capital Dadi is the only company to apply 'finger-print'
technology to the FULL RANGE of their herbs to make identification certain and to remove all
possibility of substitution with false herbs.
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