QUALITY control over China-made American ginseng products will be tightened, and crackdowns on making and marketing fake American ginseng will be launched nationwide soon, said Ren Dequan, deputy director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM).
The strategy aims to uphold the prestige of domestically manufactured American ginseng and protect rights of consumers, said the SATCM official.
Ren said SATCM and the State Bureau of Technical Supervision are working out a national standard on quality classification of American ginseng products.
Ren said his administration is organizing a review of history and achievement in the research and development of American ginseng planting and application in Shanghai next Friday.
Planters, processors and traders throughout the country will be invited to attend the four-day National Fair of American Ginseng. The fair is designed to upgrade development of domestic growing and using American ginseng, and provide guidance for Chinese consumers to take American ginseng products correctly, said Ren.
An exhibition of potted American ginseng flowers and a consulting on usage of ginseng products will also be held during the fair.
fter two decades of study and practice, China has come up to the world-best standard in planting and processing American ginseng, said Ren.
First introduced from North America in 1975, American ginseng --which has the full name of "Panax quinquefolium Linn" -- has been widely planted in dozens of counties and cities in 17 provinces and autonomous regions.
With a total planting area of more than 3.5 million square metres and an annual output of 100 to 150 tons of American ginseng products, China is the third biggest country manufacturing American ginseng , following Canada and the United States.
Four planting regions have been built up in different ecological and climate environments from Northeast to South China.
Planting and processing of American ginseng has become a new industry in China.
Jingyu County of Jilin Province, which produces 30 tons of high-quality American ginseng and 6,000 kilograms of seeds a year, was named "China's town of American Ginseng " by the Economic Development Research Centre under the State Council in 1994.
The big variety and output of medicines and health foods made of American ginseng have basically met the public's need in the country.
Data from SATCM suggests China started to use American ginseng 300 years ago. Since the country did not produce it domestically, all products had to be imported and were expensive; the little amounts did not satisfy Chinese consumers.
- SOURCE: China Daily1997.07.29
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