Adulteration of Crude Drugs

Dr. Kirankumar Hullatti

M. Pharma., Ph. D., DPPM.,
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacognosy
National College of Pharmacy, Shimoga
 Adulteration

 Adulterant: herb which does not conform to

official standards.
 Usually practised when the herb is scarce or
expensive
 Effects of Adulteration
 Inferiority
 Spoilage
 Admixture
 Sophistication
 Deterioration
 Substitution
 Inferior Herb Quality
 Leads to a sub-standard herb
 Results naturally (in nature)
 Ignorance/carelessness
 E.g. Collection of genuine material regardless of the time factor –
collecting herbs prior/after ideal time
 Collection at incorrect stage of development
 E.g. coriander – fully ripe fruits (should be nearly ripe), clove
(flowers are in bud)
 Collection of parts which are not medicinally valuable e.g.
Chamomile leaves
 Collection of incorrect herb (close resemblance to indended herb)
 Imperfect preparation (not removing undesired parts e.g. cork from
ginger rhizome/incorrect drying conditions)
 Incorrect storage: E.g. volatile oils: cool, dry place in air tight
containers
 Herb Spoilage

 When the quality or medicinal

value/usefulness of herb is impaired or
destroyed
 Bacterial/fungal action, insects, rodents
 Normally results from incorrect storage
(effects of water/temperature)
 Any herb which has been contaminated for
bacterial/fungal growth should be rejected
 Deterioration

 Value or quality of the herb has been impaired

 Extraction/Destruction of medicinal actives
 Occurs commonly when the herb is expensive, limited or
needed for numerous purposes
 E.g. Ginger: removal of medicinally active constituents in
making ginger beer (cooking purposes)
 Aging
 Heat
 e.g. Volatile oils
 Moisture
 Light  oxidation (promotes the destruction of VitA)
 Admixture
 When herbs of another species are added to
the medicinally valuable herb

 May be intentional
 OR
 Result of collection due to unskilled labour
 Presence of plant parts other than those allowed by
the definition E.g. excessive stalk
 Collection of foreign material (stones, dirt)

NOTE: Certain herbs may be legally mixed with inert or

other materials.
Sophistication

 Addition of inferior material with the

intention to decrease medicinal action
of herbs.
 E.g. Candle wax coloured yellow and
being offered as Beeswax.
 E.g. Addition of flour to powdered
ginger with chillies for potency.
 Substitution

 Adding an allied drug, or one which is

botanically different.
 E.g. Digitalis thaspi for Digitalis purpurea
Evaluation of Crude Drugs

 Various methods using QUANTATIVE

MICROSCOPY.
 Some of these techniques include
 Vein-islet numbers
 Palisade ratio
 Stomatal number & index
 Ash values