ABSTRACT
Traditional Chinese herbs (TCHs) are gaining increasing popularity worldwide in the development of dietary supplements or pharmaceutical products. Quality control and standardization of TCHs is a challenging task because of (1) the large variations in the sources and properties of raw herbs and (2) the wide diversity in process types and manufacturing conditions leading to the products. The good agriculture practice (GAP) and good manufacturing practice (GMP) guidelines are designed to address, respectively, the quality assurance issues involved in the above two areas. Although GMP guidelines have been well established in manufacturing processes, the scope and operational speci cs of GAP guidelines in the agricultural production of herbal plants are still in the developmental stage. In recent years, the development of GAPbased farming in many countries, including China, is accelerating; and the adoption of GAP as an international standard for the marketing and trading of food or herbal products is gaining momentum in international communities. This chapter uses case studies to provide an overview of the type of work and research involved in several GAP programs led by the authors’ research team in China (Lee, 2003; Wang, 2006). The technical work in a typical GAP program covers a wide range of different topics including plant science, phytochemistry, biology, and environmental science. Our discussion here thus has to be selective, with emphasis placed primarily on biochemical and analytical related topics. Additional information can be found in several review articles (Lee and Wang, 2002), and in the references listed throughout the text. The major herbs discussed include Danshen (Radix Salvia miltiorrhiza), Licorice (Radix Glycyrrhiza), American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), Alisma (Alisma gramineum Lej.), and Taizishen (Pseudostellaria heterophylla (Miq.) Pax.), and their common names will be used in the following text.
