Herbs as functional food: Regulation - Safety - Quality assurance

The actual legal situation in the EC concerning herbs and botanicals as fun ctional food is confusing. Recently different lists with plant names were p roposed for discussion. Because of their popularity with the consumer herbs and botanicals must be in the mainstream of activities by European authori ties. Examples for definition of the borderline between functional food and herbal medicine are presented. Limitations concerning safety and exact qua lity assurance procedures are crucial. Guidelines for safety procedures and a master for describing fair quality of raw material were elaborated.