December 17, 2008 — The Microbial Working Group of the American Herbal Products Association’s (AHPA) Standards Committee has recently completed draft recommended maximum microbial limits for dried powdered extracts and supplement products containing them, and for botanical products where boiling water is added before use. The AHPA Board of Trustees may consider adoption of this recommendation as guidance at its meeting in March.
The working group is now assembling a white paper on these limits, methods of analysis, and related topics and is accepting volunteers to help with content. Topics to be covered will include the importance of microbial limits with regard to food safety, sensitive populations, a discussion of methods of microbial enumeration, sampling plans, the significance of microbial levels with regard to GMPs, water activity, mycotoxins, and microbial reduction techniques including irradiation.
Source: American Herbal Products Association, www.ahpa.org
