Thursday, December 10, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Free to Members
$70 for Non-Members ($35 for Developing Country) – Special opportunity: includes 1 year of complimentary AOAC individual membership
Abstract
Confirming botanical identity gets harder as products become more complex. Ingredients are fermented, blended, powdered or heavily processed, and these steps change or remove the features that classical identification relies on. This webinar combines the view of a manufacturer with that of a testing laboratory to look at where conventional identity methods fall short and how genetic testing can close those gaps.
Chair
Kerin Law, LeafWorks
Botanical Identification: Current Testing Methods and Real-World Challenges of an In-House Manufacturing Laboratory
Maria Mendres, NOW Labs/NOW Health Group, Inc
Accurate botanical identification is essential to ensuring the authenticity, quality, and safety of botanical ingredients used in dietary supplements. This webinar will explore current identification methods, including macroscopic and microscopic examination, chemical fingerprinting using HPTLC and HPLC, and molecular techniques such as DNA barcoding and sequencing. The presentation will discuss how botanical raw materials and finished products are tested, with emphasis on method selection, sample preparation, and practical laboratory applications. Special attention will be given to challenging materials, including highly processed extracts, powdered botanicals, complex formulations, and closely related plant species. Through real-world testing challenges, participants will gain insight into the strengths and limitations of different analytical approaches and the importance of using complementary methods to achieve reliable botanical identification.
Confirming Identity in Complex Products: A Genetic Approach
Kerin Law, LeafWorks
This portion of the webinar presents LeafWorks case studies drawn from real testing of some of the hardest matrices in the supplement industry: heavily processed extracts, powdered botanicals, and complex blends combining closely related or taxonomically distinct species. We show how DNA-based methods tailored to degraded and mixed matrices can resolve each component of a blend, distinguish challenging species in even more challenging matrices, and confirm identity where classical approaches fall short. The emphasis is practical: when to add genetic testing to a quality program, what it can and cannot tell you about a finished blend, and how it complements existing methods. The guiding principle throughout—DNA cannot be masked.
