Monitoring of residual solvent contamination in herbal medicinal products in Ghana: A pilot study

Abstract

The use of herbal medicinal products for complementary and alternative medicine is well established in Ghana. The potential public health risks associated with the use of these products due to the presence of residual solvents have not yet been investigated and/or reported. In this pilot study, 7 liquid dosage forms of herbal medicinal products obtained from pharmacies and licensed chemical seller shops within the Accra metropolis in Ghana were investigated for the presence of 28 residual solvents using a combination of two orthogonal headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detector methods from a compendial approach in the general chapter <467> Residual Solvents in the United States Pharmacopeia without modification. One herbal medicinal product was contaminated with 498.33 ppm of chloroform, resulting in daily exposure of 41.82 mg/day, which is above the permissible daily exposure level of 0.6 mg/day. The detection of chloroform in herbal medicinal products suggests further investigation into the profile of residual solvent contaminants in herbal medicinal products as a matter of public health concern and the potential need for more stringent regulation of herbal medicinal products marketed in Ghana.