In recent years, the quality and safety problems have been limiting the internationalization of Chinese medicine. The pollutants in Chinese medicine, particularly the exogenous harmful pollutants mainly including mycotoxins, pesticide residues, heavy metals, harmful elements, and sulfur dioxide, are of high risks for people. Therefore, the World Health Organization(WHO) and relevant national organizations have clearly defined the maximum residue limits(MRLs) of such pollutants. Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edition, volume Ⅳ) also demonstrates the detection methods, MRLs and preliminary risk assessment methods for four typical exogenous harmful pollutants in Chinese medicine. Therefore, continuous optimization of the health risk assessment system can further help further raise the quality and safety of Chinese medicine. This paper reviews the research on the health risk assessment of four typical exogenous harmful pollutants in Chinese medicine and discusses the problems of and challenges for the assessment system, which is expected to lay a scientific basis for the establishment of the risk warning mode and response measures suitable for specific types of Chinese medicine.
Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Environmental Pollutants/analysis* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pesticide Residues/analysis* ; Risk Assessment

With the increasing demand for traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs), the resources of TCMs are gradually rare, and the phenomenon that TCMs fake is a common occurrence. Consequently, we need to urgently improve identification technique of TCMs. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS) is a newly emerging spectroscopy technology that has been widely used in image, security inspection, biological detection, medicine, material technology, aerospace, oil exploration and other fields. Which is currently used as a simple and quick method to identify the origins, fake products, processed products and pesticide residues of TCMs, hence, it plays a significant role in supplementing and improving the quality control levels of TCMs. In this paper, the composition principle of THz-TDS and its advantages in authentification of TCMs have been summarized. Additionally, the current situation and application prospects of THz-TDS in the field of TCM identification have also been reviewed.
Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pesticide Residues/analysis* ; Quality Control ; Spectrum Analysis ; Terahertz Spectroscopy

The residue of the pesticides is closely related to the quality and safety of traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs) and has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad.This article analyzed the current status of pesticide residues in TCMs by summarizing the research results of recent years.At the same time,the methods for the detection of pesticide residues in TCMs were summarized,and the domestic and foreign pesticide residue limit standards for TCMs were compared,intending to provide reference and basis for the detection and control of pesticide residues in TCMs.
Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pesticide Residues ; analysis ; Research

To evaluate the pesticide residue risk of Jinyinhua Formula Granules( made from Lonicerae Japonicae Flos) used in the market preliminarily,20 samples of Jinyinhua Formula Granules from 5 manufactures were collected randomly through the national evaluative sampling test program. Totally 262 pesticides( involving 270 chemical monomers) with monitoring significance to traditional Chinese medicinal materials were detected. Samples were extracted by high speed homogenate with acetonitrile as solvent. And their residues were analyzed by GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS in MRM mode. No less than 2 groups of characteristic ion pairs were adopted for qualitative detection,and the calibration curve method was used for quantitative detection. The results showed that 20 pesticides were detected in 20 batches of Jinyinhua Formula Granules,with an average of about 9 pesticides detected in every batch,but no restricted pesticide was detected. The detected pesticides were all at the trace level,which was far lower than the limit of the general food standard. Therefore,the safety risk was low in Jinyinhua Formula Granules. In this study,a screening method for pesticide residues in Jinyinhua Formula Granules was established for the first time. The method was accurate and rapid,and the detection indicators were highly targeted. The results could provide theoretical reference for the prevention and control of pesticide safety risks in Jinyinhua Formula Granules and even traditional Chinese medicine formula granules.
Chromatography, Gas ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Pesticide Residues ; analysis ; Quality Control ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

BACKGROUND: With increasing media coverage of food safety incidents, such as that of clenbuterol residues in pork, food safety has become a major public health concern in China. Rapidly developing online markets attract increasing numbers of Chinese consumers to purchase food on the Internet. However, the quality and safety of food sold online are uncertain and are less reported on. OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to systematically study the quality and safety of chilled pork from wet markets, supermarkets, and online markets in China. RESULTS: The chilled pork samples from online markets were fresher than those from wet markets and supermarkets based on the surface redness (a* value). Chilled pork contained high levels of nutritional elements, especially the magnesium and phosphorus levels in samples from online markets. The levels of heavy metal element residues and veterinary drug residues in all chilled pork samples were within the standards limits. In addition, huge differences existed in the quality and freshness of the chilled pork samples from online markets according to principal component analysis (PCA). CONCLUSIONS Most chilled pork sold in Chinese markets was qualified and safe. It is necessary to establish an effective online market supervision system for chilled pork.
Animals ; China ; Cold Temperature ; Drug Residues/analysis* ; Food Preservation/standards* ; Food Quality ; Food Safety ; Metals, Heavy/analysis* ; Principal Component Analysis ; Red Meat/standards* ; Sus scrofa ; Veterinary Drugs/analysis*

In order to study the pesticide residues of the medicinal Crataegi Fructus,this study aims to establish an analysis method for pesticide residues( mainly containing insecticides and fungicides) suitable for the actual situation of medicinal Crataegi Fructus based on the survey of the pesticides of the Crataegi Fructus base,combined with the blind screening results of the LC-ESI-MS/MS pesticide screening platform established by the research team in the early stage. Then,the pesticide residues in medicinal Crataegi Fructus from Shandong,Hebei,Henan,Shanxi,and Liaoning( main cultivation areas) were analyzed. The samples were pretreated by the modified Qu ECh ERS method,i.e.,extracted with acetonitrile-water( 9 ∶1),purified by PSA,C_(18),GCB,silica gel. The detection of pesticides was performed by LC-MS/MS. The ion source was ESI with positive scanning mode,and the linearity of 11 kinds of pesticides in the range of 5-300 μg·kg~(-1) was acceptable( R~2>0. 996 9). All the recoveries of pesticides were within 70. 02%~(-1)12. 0% in the low,medium and high levels,with RSD≤17%. The results showed that the detection rate of carbendazim,chlorpyrifos and difenoconazole is 79%,82%,56%,respectively. Besides,the prohibition pesticide carbofuran were detected in some of the batches,indicating the security risk. This study provides methodological references and basic data for risk assessment of Crataegi Fructus and government regulation.
Chromatography, Liquid ; Crataegus/chemistry* ; Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Pesticide Residues/analysis* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

This study proposed a quantitative method for 34 pesticides including organochlorine,organophosphorus and pyrethroids in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herbs and medicinal slices,and analyzed the pesticide residues of collected Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma samples from different regions. With acetonitrile extraction and optimized Qu Ech ERS purification,the 32 batches of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herbs and medicinal slices were analyzed by matrix matching standard curve quantitative analysis under GC-MS/MS multi-response monitoring( MRM) mode. This study investigated the pretreatment of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma samples based on the Qu Ech ERS method of Chinese Pharmacopoeia( 2015 edition,4),and the result showed that the recoveries of some pesticide was low and pigment has a strong interference in analysis,which result in worse purification effect. Therefore,this paper further optimized the Qu Ech ERS method and corrected the matrix matching standard curve method,and compensated the qualitative and quantitative effects of matrix effects on the detected target compounds in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. The results showed that 34 kinds of pesticide had good linear( R~2 of 0. 996 4 or higher) within a covering 0. 01-0. 2 mg·kg~(-1) concentration range. The limits of quantitation are less than 0. 01 mg·kg~(-1). This method was further applied to the simultaneous determination of 34 pesticide residues of typical organochlorine,organophosphorus and pyrethroids in 32 batches of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herbs and medicinal slices. Six batches containing beta-endosulfan,thiosulphate,o,p'-DDD and thrta-cypermethrin were detected,but none of them exceeded the limit of pesticide residues stipulated in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and the EU Pharmacopoeia. This study indicates that the established method is rapid,convenient,accurate,and sensitive,which provides a rapid and efficient method for the simultaneous determination of typical organochlorine,organophosphorus and pyrethroids in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma.
Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Glycyrrhiza/chemistry* ; Pesticide Residues/analysis* ; Rhizome ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Immunoassays greatly contribute to veterinary drug residue analysis. However, there are few reports on detecting neomycin residues by immunoassay. Here, a rapid and sensitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLIEA) was successfully developed for neomycin residue analysis. CLIEA demonstrated good cross-reactivity for neomycin, and the IC50 value was 2.4 ng/mL in buffer. The average recovery range was 88.5%-105.4% for spiked samples (10, 50, and 100 μg/kg), and the coefficient of variation was in the range of 7.5%-14.5%. The limit of detection of CLEIA was 9.4 μg/kg, and this method was compared with the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method using naturally contaminated samples, producing a correlation coefficient of >0.95. We demonstrate a reliable CLIEA for the rapid screening of neomycin in milk.
Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; metabolism ; Drug Residues ; metabolism ; Food Contamination ; analysis ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; veterinary ; Limit of Detection ; Luminescent Measurements ; veterinary ; Milk ; chemistry ; Neomycin ; metabolism

The paper aimed to study the residue decline dynamic and standards for safety utilization of carbendazim in roots, stems, leaves of Anoectochilus roxburghii and in growth media. Samples extracted with methanol were purified by liquid-liquid extraction and analysed by HPLC. The results showed that average rate of recovery was 82.9% - 95.7% and RSD were 2.0% - 6.3% with add of carbendazim in respectively diverse concentration, which meets inspection requirement of pesticide residue. Two kinds of dosages of carbendazim were treated, varying from recommended dosage (1.0 kg x hm(-2)) to 1.5 times recommended dosage (1.5 kg x hm(-2)). Results of two years test showed that the half-life period of carbendazim were 7.01 - 8.51 d in the growth media of A. roxburghii, 3.58 - 4.27 d in stems and 3.50 - 3.91 d in leaves, 4.93 - 5.71 d in roots. Providing max recommended residue of carbendazim in the cultivation of A. roxburghii is 0.5 mg x kg(-1), sprayed 4 times a year with the dosage of 1.0 kg x hm(-2), 28 days is proposed for the safety interval of the last pesticide application's and harvest's date.
Benzimidazoles ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Carbamates ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; chemistry ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Fungicides, Industrial ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Liquid-Liquid Extraction ; Orchidaceae ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Pesticide Residues ; analysis ; metabolism ; Plant Leaves ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Plant Roots ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Plant Stems ; drug effects ; metabolism

In our study, 198 types of pesticides in 120 types 333 lots of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which were reasonably classified according to its matrix property, were determined by using the pretreatment platform and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. As a result, 158 were contaminated with pesticides. However, the content of pesticides in most TCM was very low. In addition, types of pesticides were different in different part of materia medica. In conclusion, the current status of pesticide residues pollutants in TCM was summarized, and the result can provide proof for the formulation of maximum residue limit. The new species of herbs and the new detecting index should be electively monitored in Chinese Pharmacopeia.
China ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Pesticide Residues ; analysis ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Quality Control