A statewide crackdown on little vials of alcohol-laced liquid ginseng being abused by some schoolchildren went national yesterday, as thousands of General Nutrition Centers throughout the country voluntarily removed the item from their shelves at the request of New York officials.
The recall and seizure within New York State of dozens of different products with names such as Dr. Chan's Strawberry Cream High Potency Ginseng and Kung Fu Brand Panax Ginseng Extractum began last week after children in the small upstate community of Penn Yan began dozing off in class at Penn Yan Central School. Teachers called in police, who confiscated the vials and sent them to state laboratories for analysis. The vials were found to contain 5 percent to 24 percent alcohol but were not labeled as containing alcohol.
State Agriculture and Markets Department inspectors found 15.7 percent alcohol in the GNC product in a Buffalo outlet and contacted the general offices in Pittsburgh of General Nutrition Cos. Inc., the largest chain of vitamin supplement stores in the nation. A GNC spokesman confirmed yesterday that all 3,000 GNC outlets were being told to stop selling vials of its Gold Panax Ginseng Extract.
The GNC product will be analyzed for alcohol content and "we'll correct the label or the process," said GNC spokesman Greg Miller. "It very definitely is not marketed to children, and anybody examining the package would clearly find that." He said alcohol is used to extract the essence from ginseng root and other herbs. The company does not sell its products outside its own stores and buys ginseng from wholesalers, Miller said.
State investigators continued analyzing dozens of additional liquid ginseng products and added more companies to a growing list of distributors from Long Island to California. The one Long Island-based distributor was identified by the state as Z.T. Universal Inc., 1 Robert La., Glen Head. Food safety inspectors found 5.6 percent alcohol in thhe company's liquid Siberian ginseng product. Several varieties of liquid from a Queens distributor, Zion Organic Roots Inc., 198-01 Hollis Ave., St. Albans, were found to contain 5.5 percent alcohol.
The Zion products were called Four Man Strength, Strong Back Nerve Wist, Sassaparilla, Peanute Pimento, Blackberry, Ginger and Brown Sugar.
Russell Sisto, owner of Sweet Potatoes, an organic-food store in Huntington, sold Rising Sun Panax Ginseng , one of the recalled brands, until Saturday, when he pulled them from the shelves. Although he didn't know that the brand had a high alcohol content, "it doesn't surprise me," Sisto said. "As soon as you open the bottle, you can smell it."
Many of the companies distributing the products are located in Brooklyn, California, Louisiana, Canada, China and Korea. Much of the most potent ginseng is grown in the latter two countries. It is being marketed heavily in powder, solid and liquid forms as one of many herbal energy boosters available in drugstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and discount outlets.
While the root and its variations are said to be harmless, and reputable vitamin manufacturers say no alcohol is added to their liquid ginseng products, state officials say it is being hawked in such a way as to appeal to children. While some over-the-counter products such as cough medicine contain alcohol but are not deemed to be alcoholic beverages, Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Donald Davidsen said the high alcohol content of some liquid ginseng products makes them "equivalent" to many alcoholic beverages.
- BY: Michael Unger. STAFF WRITER
- SOURCE: Newsday1997.07.15
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