ADULTERATION OF HERBAL/CRUDE

DRUGS
Dr.U.Srinivasa, D.Pharm, M. Pharm.,
M.Phil., Ph.D.
Professor and Head, (Dept. of
Pharmacognosy)
Srinivas college of pharmacy, Mangalore.
Email.
usreenivas1966@rediffmail.com

DEFINATION

Adulteration is a practice of substituting

original crude drug partially or whole with
other similar looking substances but the
latter is either free from or inferior in
chemical and therapeutic properties.
OR

Adulteration in simple words is the

debasement of an article. OR

Adulteration

is

broadly

defined

as

admixture or substitution of original or

genuine article/ drug with inferior,
defective

or

otherwise

harmful substances.

useless

or

ADULTRANT :

The adulterant must be some material

which in both cheap and available in
fairly large amounts.

Substitution

is

the

addition

of

an

entirely different article in place of that

which is required e.g. supply of cheap
cottonseed oil in place of olive oil.

TYPES OF ADULTERATION
1. Deliberate ( Intentional )
adulteration
2. Accidental ( In-deliberate)
adulteration

1. Deliberate adulteration
( Intentional )

Deliberate

adulteration

Are

normally commercial mainly with the

intention of enhancement of profits

2. In-deliberate ( Accidental )
adulteration

In - Deliberate adulteration Are

normally

naturally

occurring,

accidental, careless or by ignorance

and non harmful.

REASONS FOR
ADULTERATION

1. Scarcity of the drug

2. The high price of the drug in the

market,

eg: Clove, Cinnamon,

Cardamom

3.

It

is

very

common

with

contraband drugs e.g. Opium

the

Conditions or Stages of adulteration

The term 'adulteration' or debasement of
an article covers a number of conditions,
which may be deliberate or In- deliberate.
Inferiority,
Spoilage,
Deterioration,
Admixture,
Sophistication ,
Substitution

Inferiority

Inferiority is a natural substandard

condition (e.g. where a crop is taken
whose natural constituent is below
the

minimum

standard

for

that

particular drug) which can be avoided

by more careful selection of the plant
material.

Spoilage

Spoilage is a substandard condition

produced by microbial or other pest
infestation, which makes a product
unfit for consumption, which can be
avoided by careful attention to the
drying, and storage conditions.

Deterioration

Deterioration is an impairment of the

quality or value of an article due to
destruction or abstraction of valuable
constituents

by

bad

treatment

or

aging or to the deliberate extraction of

the constituents and the sale of the
residue as the original drugs.

Admixture

Admixture is the addition of one

article to another through accident,
ignorance

or

carelessness

e.g.

inclusion of soil on an underground

organ or the co-collection of two
similar species.

Sophistication

Sophistication is the deliberate addition

of spurious or inferior material with
intent to defraud; such materials are
carefully produced and may appear at
first sight to be genuine e.g. powder
ginger may be diluted with starch with
addition of little coloring material to
give the correct shade of yellow colour.

Substitution

Substitution is the addition of an

entirely different article in place of
that which is required e.g. supply of
cheap cottonseed oil in place of olive
oil.

METHODS OF ADULTERATION OR SUBSTITUTION

OF HERBAL DRUGS
1.

Substitution

with

Inferior/Sub-

standard

Commercial Varieties
Due to morphological resemblance to the
authentic
commercial

drugs,
varieties

different
are

inferior
used

as

adulterant which may or may not have any

chemical or therapeutic potential as that
original natural drug

This

is

the

most

common

type

of

adulteration

Eg. Arabian Senna

been

used

to

and Dog Senna have

adulterate

Indian

Senna

(Cassia senna)

Eg. Medicinal Ginger(Zingiber officinale) is

replaced by Japanese ginger ( Zingiber
mioga ) .

2. Adulteration by Artificially Manufactured

Substitutes

Here

the

substances

artificially

prepared to resemble the original

drug ( provide the general form and
appearance i.e colour, shape, size)
and are used as substitute of the
original one.

Generally , this practice is followed for

much costlier drugs

Eg. Artificial invert sugar for Honey

Eg. Paraffin wax made yellow coloration

and substituted for Bees wax.

Eg. Compressed chicory in place of

Coffee

3. Substitution by Exhausted Drugs

In this type

the same plant drug is

admixed but it is devoid of any

medicinally

active

constituents

as

they are already extracted out. (no

active medicinal components as they
have already been extracted out).

This practice is most common in case of

volatile

oil

containing

materials

like

clove, fennel , cardamom, cinnamon etc.,

Some

times

natural

characters

of

exhausted drugs like colour and taste are

manipulated by adding other additives
and then it is substituted

Eg. Exhausted Clove to Clove

Eg. Exhausted Ginger to Ginger

4. Substitution by Superficially Similar but

Inferior /Cheaper Substances

The inferior drugs used, may or may

not have any therapeutic or chemical
component as that of original drug .
Due to morphological resemblance
to the genuine drug , they are
marketed as adulterants .

Eg. Mother Clove and Clove stalks are

mixed with Clove

Eg.

Bees

wax

is

substituted

Japanese wax

Eg. Indian dill with European dill

by

5. Adulteration by Addition of Worthless

Heavy Materials ( Harmful Adulteration)

Here, the wastes from market are

collected and admixed with original
drug.
This is particularly noticed for liquids
and unorganized drugs.

Eg. Limestone in Asafoetida

Eg. Pieces of amber colored glass in

Colophony

Eg. Addition of rodent waste matter to

cardamom

seed

is

adulteration

Eg. White stones in rice

very

harmful

6. Addition of Synthetic Principles

Sometimes to fortify inferior natural

products,

synthetic

principles

are

added
Eg. Adding Citral to Oil of Lemon
Eg. Benzyl benzoate to Balsam of
Peru etc.

7. Usage of Vegetative Matter from the Same

Plant

Some times, the other plants growing

along with medicinal plant are mixed
due to their resembling colour, odour
and in some cases constituents.

Eg. The lower plants like Moss,

Liver

warts and epiphytes growing on plant

(bark)

portion

are

mixed

with

Cinnamon or Cinchona

Eg : Stems portions are mixed along

with leaf drugs like Lobelia, Senna,
Datura etc

8. Adulteration of Powders

Besides the entire drugs, the powdered

forms

are

frequently

found

to

be

adulterated.

Eg. Red Sanders wood n Capsicum

Eg. Exhausted Ginger powder in powdered

Ginger

Eg.

The

powdered

bark

adulterated with Brick powder

is

frequently