So How Safe are Chinese herbs, really?

Many products that come from Chinese manufacturers have been found to contain toxins. This was made very obvious in 2007 at the height of the Melamine Pet Food Recall when food that was contaminated with melamine killed a lot of unsuspecting pets.

A greedy supplier had substituted melamine for protein in grain by-product meal, and it killed many beloved pets. This was totally unnecessary, but demonstrated very dramatically how many pet food companies had outsourced to China many of their supply lines because they were so cheap. This event triggered an increased level of awareness by the American consumer regarding the purity of ingredients in products, and orchestrated huge changes in the pet food marketplace.

Since then, the American pet-owning public has been very cautious about using anything from China, including Chinese herbal formulas. I am happy to tell you that the herbal export industry in China is very sensitive to the needs of countries they export herbs to, and the quality of these export herbs is far greater than the herbs that are used by the Chinese in China.

Chinese herbs are analyzed for heavy metals, pesticide residues and other toxins, before being marked for export. Additionally, they are analyzed using advanced laboratory equipment, like gas chromatography, to insure that the plant that is in the formula is the same plant as on the label. In other words, their quality control meets the highest standards globally, and especially for the US, Europe and Australia.

Additionally, with the huge rise in interest by American veterinarians in Chinese herbs, there now are several American companies that manufacture and market these herbal formulas.

Its important to identify which companies maintain these high standards of quality control so as to preferentially use their herbal formulations over other companies that do not.

Some of the companies I’ve used that have very high standards of quality include:

As you can see there are quite a few reputable companies to choose from. So, if you are going to be using Chinese herbs, using one of several of these company’s products should cause you absolutely no cause for concern.