KPC Products Inc.
(US Main Office)
16 Goddard
Irvine, CA 92618
Tel: 949-727-4000
Orders: 800-KPC-8188
Fax: 949-727-3577

Chinese herbal authentication is the determination of the correct origin, species and an assessment of the quality of Chinese herbs. Its intent is to prevent the use of mistakenly identified herbs or the substitute of imitation products. A typical authentication method of Chinese herbs follows the standards of TCM dictionaries as well as each country’s particular standards for quality, inspection methods and performed with technology specified for detection.

When raw materials come into KP, they go through the following authentication steps:

1. Appearance: Experts determine species by the herb’s exterior characteristics: color, size, scent and texture.
2. Microscopic identification: Laboratories use a microscope to determine the herb by its unique characteristics observable only under magnification: the grain of cross-sections of the herb, the graininess of its powder, its cell shape and its behavior under chemical dissociation.
   
3. Physical /chemical identification: Laboratories determine species by its unique characteristics under a battery of chemical and physical tests: appearance under fluorescent light, performance under distillation, color chromatography, spectrometric analysis, lost weight on drying, ash content, percent of insoluble ash under liquid, the amount of extracted water and diluted alcohol extract.
   
4. Presently, the entire world accepts the authenticity of chemical fingerprint QC methods. Chemical fingerprinting does not seek to identify the exact chemical structure from analysis, but rather seeks identical matches of each batch of the same herb to a laboratory standard. The following analytical technologies have been employed to obtain chemical fingerprints: Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC), High-performance liquid chromatography, Gas-liquid chromatography. Since the origin of Chinese herbs is quite complex, the composition of the herbs is even more complex; it is currently impossible to determine the make-up of each herb. But, in the future, KP expects the application of chemical fingerprinting to play an important role in the TCM.

In order to guarantee the efficacy and quality of each herb, KP employs expertise both in traditional methods of inspection of an herb’s exterior surface, color, grain etc., as well as analytical methods made possible by state-of-the-art modern advancements in science. We perform systematic comparisons of the Chinese herbal ingredients and evaluate the quality of each herb to ensure their efficacy. With our available resources, KP is moving towards internationalizing its business, and vigorously promoting the safety of TCM herbs. With the modernization and globalization of TCM, we are building an unparalleled integrated quality control system, strictly enforced from the starting ingredients to the finished products.

KP employs expertise                                                         
both in traditional methods                  
of inspection as well as                                            
analytical methods made possible by            
modern advancements in science.