Quality assessment of five herbal tea brands containing Moringa oleifera Lam. (Family: Moringaceae) sold in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Addressing drawbacks issues of standardization and quality assurance of herbal products is increasingly becoming necessary. In this study, five Moringa oleifera herbal tea products sold in Port Harcourt- Niger-Delta region of Nigeria were sampled and assessed for quality parameters as prescribed by the World Health Organization. The DPPH standard spectrophotometric method was used for antioxidant assay. All the five Moringa tea brands showed quality parameters evidence of Moringa oleifera leaves. Two brands have values above the allowable limit for total ash and acid insoluble ash. Arsenic was detected in all the five brands above recommended limit. All the five tea brands had antioxidant activity above 50%. All the five Moringa tea brands had microbial contaminants. Although all the five herbal tea samples contain Moringa oleifera, the presence of microbial contaminant, the toxic heavy metal arsenic, and silica matter elicits quality and stability concerns with associated risk to public health.