FDA Seizes Tainted Ginseng Supply 33506

FDA Seizes Tainted Ginseng Supply

WASHINGTONThe Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) requested the seizure of ginseng imported by Livingston,N.J.-based ingredient supplier FCC Products Inc. after the materials testedpositive for the pesticides procymidone and quintozene. Accompanied by an FDAinvestigator, the U.S. Marshall Service carried out a warrant issued by the U.S.District Court in New Jersey, confiscating an unknown amount of the companysginseng product. Unaware of the scope of distribution of this ginseng, FDA alsoissued a nationwide warning to people who may have bought or used the products.

The pesticide discovery was made during an FDA inspection ofFCCs products, whereby samples of the companys bulk ginseng were collectedand analyzed by an FDA laboratory.The FCC products are considered unsafe underthe Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, because FDA has not established atolerance for either of the pesticide chemical residues found in the ginseng.

This is the second appearance in six months by quintozene inimported ginseng supply. On Aug. 13, 2004, FDA reported finding quintozene andother fungicides and derivatives in American ginseng products from Bloomingdale,Ill.-based NOW® Foods, which responded immediately by taking the product offthe market.

The company confirmed the findings via internal testing andcontinually updated FDA on the progress of the recall. NOW has since changed itstesting procedures and ginseng supplier.

Quintozene, a soil fungicide, has been used for many years to protect ginsengcrops from rot during cool, wet months.The residue is scrutinized less in othercountries, including Canada, and some Asian cultivators of ginseng have beenslow to adapt to the standing FDA allowance for zero quintozene content inimported ginseng product.

According to Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive directorof the American Botanical Council (ABC), conventional ginseng is grown inenvironmental conditions that simulate a forest, a climate ripe for mold andfungi. Agricultural chemicals such as quintozene have been used to inhibit suchunwanted growths. He further noted that organic ginseng is grown without the useof these chemicals.

The bigger issue might be the failure of the FDA to set atolerance limit for quintozene levels, or the sudden uncharacteristic attentionthe agency has recently given these residues. Testing and seizing products forsmall amounts of unapproved pesticide residues is not something FDA does as amatter of course, according to Steven Dentali, Ph.D., vice president ofscientific and technical affairs at the American Herbal Products Association(AHPA). The amounts found were probably less than what is already allowed forcollard greens or peanuts for quintozene, he said.

The National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), to whichFCC Products belongs, is reviewing all information on the matter and intends toput together recommendations for its members who use imported ginseng.

At press time, FCC Products had not returned INSIDERsrequest for comment on the FDA action.