Análise físico-química e de rotulagem em plantas medicinais comercializadas no mercado formal e informal

Abstract

The insertion of adulterating constituents, foreign material, contamination and unhealthy conditions are commonly observed in the management of medicinal plants, which reinforces the need to promote access to information of the population so that they can know the real constituents that are present in each Species, since they are predominantly consumed. In this way, the present study provides results on identification of fraud occurrence by alteration, phytochemical properties estimation and labeling analysis of medicinal plants, with espinheira santa and chamomile commercialized in the formal and informal market of the municipality of Santa Cruz / RN being the plants of interest. For this, laboratory tests were performed in triplicate for total ashes, humidity, thin layer chromatography and a protocol for analysis of labels according to the Resolution - RDC No. 259 from September 20th, 2002 of the Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária and Farmacopeia Brasileira was developed. Of the analyzed samples, only one showed an indication of physicochemical alteration, considering the current legislation for total ashes, suggesting the occurrence of fraud by alteration. From the chromatography slidesanalysis, it was observed a disparity related to the compounds present in one of the species marketed in the formal market when compared to the vegetable species from the informal market, suggesting another probable indication for fraud occurrence. Of the items analyzed on the labels, seven of nineteen were in non-compliance with the RDC mentioned above. The estimation of phytochemical compounds did not occur, since the developer used had universal affinity for a range of compounds, and the suggestion of a specific group was not feasible.In addition, the study demonstrated the occurrence of physical-chemical changes in one of the analyzed plant species, configuring as a possible aggravation to the disservice of consumers health, indicating a need for greater supervision by responsible agencies, such as ANVISA.