AHPA President Michael McGuffin presented at a seminar sponsored jointly today in London, England by Health Food Manufacturers’ Association (HFMA) and British Herbal Medicine Association (BHMA), titled Maintaining High Quality Standards in Herbal Products.
This seminar was convened to provide information for companies involved in the supply chain for herbal products – from the growing and harvesting of plant crops, to the manufacturing process and marketing of the end product. The seminar addressed quality of both traditional herbal medicinal products and herbal/botanical food supplements to meet consumers' increasingly discerning demand for high-quality products.
McGuffin’s presentation was on Quality Issues for Herbal & Botanical Products – the U.S. experience.
“Every company that markets herbal products in the U.S. is required to meet the basic quality standard implied by the U.S. cGMP rule, and it’s essential that each of them make that minimum commitment to quality,” said McGuffin in his presentation. “Similarly, an herb company can choose to meet a higher quality standard, which often means it is willing to pay the higher prices that high quality ingredients demand.”
HFMA is the voice of the UK’s natural health industry and represents more than 125 manufacturers and suppliers of natural health products. Founded in 1965, the HFMA is a not-for-profit organisation which operates long-standing codes of practice to ensure that member companies adhere to high standards and offer good quality, safe products supported by responsible, lawful information.
BHMA has represented the interests of herbal medicine in the United Kingdom for over 50 years. It was founded in 1964 at a time of increasing regulatory control, when herbal medicine in the U.K. faced an uncertain future, and played an important role in convincing the government of the day to include provisions for the herbal industry and profession in the Medicines Act 1968. Members of the Association include manufacturers of herbal medicines, herbal practitioners, companies involved in the supply of herbal raw materials and extracts, academics, pharmacists, retailers and students of phytotherapy.