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Dear Friends of AHP,
At the annual conference of AOAC International, held in Indianapolis, IN on August 29-September 2, 2026, American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) President Roy Upton was awarded the Technical Division on Reference Materials (TDRM) Award. Almost 15 years ago, Roy launched the AHP-Verified Botanical Reference Materials (BRM) program through the AHP. Since that time, AHP has provided more than 12,000 AHP-Verified BRMs representing more than 350 botanical ingredients to industry manufacturers, independent labs, researchers, and regulators both domestically and internationally.
Founded in 1884, AOAC International is an independent, non-profit, scientific association that develops globally recognized voluntary consensus standards and validated test methods for food safety, dietary supplements, agriculture, and public health. Their Official Methods of Analysis (OMA) are the gold standard for testing methodologies, also both domestically and internationally. Their Single Lab Validation (SLV) program is equally valued and of relevance to the botanical products industry. This was the 140th annual meeting of AOAC International!
Reference standards are critical in natural product analyses. Every manufacturer by law is required to properly identify the ingredients they use. Dietary Supplement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) repeatedly note the importance of reference materials in ingredient testing. Comparing in-coming raw materials with 3rd party-verified BRMs provides among the highest level of confidence that manufacturers are procuring authentic ingredients.
AHP’s Roy Upton: “Receiving this award from an organization with the august reputation of AOAC International is a true honor. I have been involved in various botanical expert committees of AOAC over the decades and am grateful they have recognized value in AHP’s BRM program. We work diligently to provide BRMs that reflect what a quality botanical should possess, using both traditional and scientific assessment methodologies to ensure their identity, purity, and composition. I am grateful that the work of the many botanists, chemists, farmers, herbalists, and wildcrafters with whom we interface has been so well recognized. My sincere thanks to all those who make the AHP-Verified BRM program possible and to the AOAC International TDRM Committee.”
Information on AOAC international can be found at their website at: https://www.aoac.org/about-aoac-international/.
A listing of the more than 600 AHP-Verified BRM’s offered can be downloaded at: https://herbal-ahp.org/botanical-reference-materials/. If there is a BRM that you are looking for and is not listed, please contact us as we go to great lengths to obtain botanical materials worldwide. AHP-Verified BRM contact: mkeller@herbal-ahp.org (831-461-6335).
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