GMP

One of the benefits of relocating up to Whitby is that we have been able to specify our new factory and processes to fit in with the new legal requirements for good manufacturing processes (GMP) for producers of herbal products. In fact, most of the requirements are just common sense, but there is some justifiable scepticism around in the herbal industry and amongst practitioners about these new regulations.

The main fears are that smaller producers will go out of business or have to sell up as they will not be able to afford the considerable costs of upgrading, and that practitioners might be stopped from making their own tinctures, creams etc. We believe that it is essential to preserve the right of herbalists to make their own medicines and in fact, would actively encourage people to do so. It is most certainly true, for example, that if you grow your own herbs and produce fresh plant tinctures on a small scale, the finished product is invariably superior in many ways to what else may be available. It is important to maintain this connection with the universal vital principle. Using purely quantitative methods such as HPLC to measure the presence of marker compounds in herbal extracts is useful to verify the correct identity of the plant, but is only of limited use in demonstrating therapeutic benefit.

GMP will give you the assurance that you are receiving from us what is on the label, produced to the highest quality assurance standards, which is, of course, what we’ve been endeavouring to do all along.

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of quality control in sourcing our crude herbs. Our aim is to source all our raw materials from sustainable sources, and to develop long term relationships with our suppliers. We believe that, in many instances, we have identified growers who understand the complexities for each particular plant. In an ideal world we would be sourcing from small producers with specialist knowledge, who can advise us on the best times and conditions to harvest, and who have the skills and equipment to dry and process the herbs to the highest standards on site. We are constantly looking for such sources and would welcome any recommendations.

This year we have started making some fresh plant tinctures from locally wildcrafted plants, including nettle, cleavers, meadowsweet, comfrey and elder. This is something we are keen to develop and expand.

GMP - Who Needs It?

THINKING GREEN

All of us who work at the Herbal Apothecary are keen to do as much recycling as possible. Once we have made fluid extracts or tinctures we compost the marc. We recycle all plastic, cardboard , paper and even stamps. We use as many biodegradable packing materials as possible, though had to rule out using shredded paper as not being as protective as the “maggots”, that we currently use. The maggots, by the way, are 100% biodegradable and can be composted. We would welcome any further suggestions from our customers, and would be most interested to hear about any creative uses for the maggots.