GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE (GAP) FOR MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANT PRODUCTION

In the course of the New Wave not only has the consumption of medicinal and aromatic plants increased but the quality requirements have also risen. Moreover the questions arose how to guarantee the supply and how to optimize the quality of herbal drugs. Many conferences and round table discussions have taken place in recent years dealing with questions of the quality of phytopharmaceuticals. Mainly analytical processing methods and standardization of the products were discussed. In this respect reference was often made to the GMP Guidelines of the WHO concerning production and quality ensurance of medicinal drugs. Astonishingly the variability of plant raw material is accepted as a fact, though here we find the key to drug quality. And concerning the acceptance control of drugs the problem is often mentioned, that in the purchase of a lot through the drug trade, the destination is often not yet known while the application may be: food, spice, herbal tea or raw material for extraction or for isolation of natural products.

Concerning the destination different standards are set, either by the pharmacopoeias, or by food legislation or by neither. The wholesale business likes to state that many drugs are not available in better qualities and therefore so called "extract qualities" (= low qualities) have to be used, e.g. folium sennae or chamomillae; thus the use of chamomile herb instead of flowers for tea bags should be justified and should then find a place in the codex as "commercial qualities".