Planta Med 2011; 77 DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273527
Guidelines for Botanical Identification Methods
J Harnly 1, S Coates 2
1 Food Composition and Methods Development Lab, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA 2 AOAC INTERNATIONAL, 481 North Frederick Avenue, Suite 500, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA

While there are well developed protocols in place for the validation of quantitative methods, none exist for qualitative methods. Implementation of FDA's new Good Manufacturing Practices has placed added emphasis on the need for botanical identification (ID) methods. An expert review panel (ERP) was convened by AOAC INTERNATIONAL to develop guidelines for validation of ID methods. Botanical ID method are defined as methods used to determine, with a high degree of reliability, that a sample of unknown content and origin is a true example of a given botanical species. The guidelines will describe the steps needed to validate these methods.