Certification for Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs in Singapore

Herbs from Eu Yan Sang come with certification
Alicia Wong, Today Online 1 Apr 08;

IF YOU find something wrong with your herbal supplements, Eu Yan Sang International can now track down the source of the problem — even as far down the line as which plot of land the herb was grown on.

This is thanks to a new in-house certification scheme for the safety and traceability of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

A world first, the Eu Yan Sang Good Agronomic Practices for Herbs (EYSGAP-Herbs) Certification Scheme ensures best practices at all stages, from the growth to the retail of herbs.

The company will provide guidelines for, and then audit, each stage of the supply chain. Agrifood Technologies, the commercial arm of the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), will act as the external auditor for the company's herbs supply farms under this scheme.

With growing concern over food safety issues, there is need to assure consumers, said Dr Patrick Loh, the senior vice-president of technology at Eu Yan Sang, yesterday. Such assurance, said chief executive Richard Eu, will be "of paramount importance to the growth and development of the TCM industry".

But with the prices of TCM herbs going through the roof — by up to 40 per cent in the past two years, according to director of Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution Ang Liang — could this hike up prices even further?

Mr Eu said the company would absorb the extra costs of certification "for the moment", in hopes it translates into better sales.

The Lingzhi is the first herb to obtain the EYSGAP-Herbs certification after a process that took eight to nine months. Agrifood Technologies conducted its independent audit in January.

Mr Eu said the company plans to certify all its herbs and next up for certification is the Wisconsin American Ginseng.

AVA chairman Koh Poh Tiong urged other TCM manufacturers to follow suit. "Food safety management is a continuum from farm to fork; and the safety of TCM, like food, must start at the source — that is, the farm," he said.

Mr David Tang, managing director of Yat Ming Medicine, which carries Eu Yan Sang's products, said that while such a certification process would enhance the legitimacy of TCM, smaller TCM manufacturers could find it difficult to adopt such an extensive certification scheme.

Perhaps they could collaborate, with Agrifood Technologies helping to coordinate, he suggested.

The latter and Eu Yan Sang said they were open to working with other TCM companies interested in conducting such a certification scheme.