Bilberry, bluberry, cranberry, mulberry, black bean skin extract and others

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Industry needs to wake up to adulterated bilberry extracts
By Stephen Daniells 14/05/2007-
Bilberry extracts mixed with mulberry or black bean skins are
reported to have hit the Japanese market and elsewhere, duping the
industry into creating cheaper alternatives and undermining quality.
Tony Jacobs, sales and marketing director of Artemis Nutritionals
Europe AG, told NutraIngredients.com that the scale of the situation
has reached such proportions that Japan, currently the biggest market
for the extract, is considering banning bilberry. Key players in the
bilberry industry are now moving to counter the problem and advise
companies to test their bilberry extracts independently, especially if
they were purchased for less than $500 per kg. Bo Ahlstedt, director
of Olle Svennson AB, Sweden's largest supplier of wild harvested
blueberries, told NutraIngredients.com that a simple test using high
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is needed to verify the
anthocyanin profile, as well as the concentration of these
polyphenols, as this is key to verifying the identity of the
extracts. "You then find a typical and unique fingerprint for
Bilberry showing 15 peaks. The combination of HPLC and UV testing is
the safest procedure to verify that you are buying the real thing,"
stated Ahlstedt. "Most laboratories are able to also test the
anthocyanin content by HPLC and verify that you are not using a fake
look alike," he added. Growing demand from the food industry and a
poor season's harvest in 2006 caused prices for Scandinavian
bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) to jump by a whopping 70 per cent,
hitting the emerging bilberry market badly. Nutraceutical companies
however have desperately tried to limit the impact of the price
increase and protect their sales. With the price per kilo now
estimated at around $600, there have been companies offering lower-
price extracts that are cleaning out the market. The fake product is
priced around $ 400-450 per kg, said Jacobs, and it is "impossible to
produce bilberry at this price." "Anyone buying for less that $500
is most likely getting a fake bilberry," he said. According to
reports in the Japanese newspaper Health Industry News (4th April
2007), bilberry, adulterated with mulberry or black bean skin
products, or synthetic pigments mixed with grape seed, is coming out
of Northern China. The anthocyanins content is used as the standard
for bilberry, using UV spectrometry to confirm the 25 per cent
anthocyanins. However, according to Japanese reports this has led to
extracts that masquerade as bilberry but actually contain mulberry
(22-24 per cent), or black bean skin (20 per cent), with only the
pigment or bilberry bringing this fake product to 25 per cent
anthocyins. The industry has not been aware of the problem, and price
has been driving the market, said Jacobs. "We know the price of
bilberry 25 per cent must reflect the cost of the fruit and the
extract ratio. It is a competitive market and cheap Bilberry is only
cheap because it does not meet specification," he said. Jacobs was
quick to point out that the many bilberry extract producers in China
were also suffering from the fake products. He recommended that
companies sourcing the extracts from China ensure that the company is
pharmaceutically registered, a sign of quality practices. "Bilberry
has active ingredients that provide a notable and quick response for
eye health," said Jacobs. "But you are not going to get these benefits
from these fake products."