Raw materials: the importance of quality and safety. A review

Aromatic plants and spices are used throughout the world for flavouring food and beverages, as well as for food supplements, novel foods and as a source of essential oils and aromatic extracts. The non-availability or inadequacy of standards for checking and assuring the quality of aromatic plants and spices is one of the main problems that arise for industry when using such raw materials. As many aromatic plants are harvested from the wild, standardization to assure their quality is important for their safe and effective utilization in food and beverage industries. On the other hand, there are numerous parameters that influence the chemical composition of plants, which play an important role in the final quality of the product and possibly in any risk arising to the consumer. Also, from a safety point of view, aromatic plants and spices should be free of undeclared contaminants and adulterants, such as toxic botanicals, pathogenic microorganisms and excessive levels of microbial toxins, pesticides or fumigation agents. We focus on these aspects and examine ways to assure their appropriate utilization from the quality and safety standpoint. The regulatory situation of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) is very complicated; several differences in standards and regulations between countries can be found, a situation that can result in more health risks arising for consumers. To clarify some of the existing problems, the major regulations of the USA and the European Union (EU) and the borderlines between food supplements and medicines and other international standards, are briefly described and discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.