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Quality Control, Quality Herbs

TLC TestingOregon's Wild Harvest is on the cutting edge of research, continually upgrading our certified organic and Biodynamic® farming, laboratory testing, and production methods to produce fresh, certified organic herbs with the highest possible beneficial activity. Our staff scientists, and highly trained health and herbal supplement experts, oversee every step of growing and manufacturing. Our technical staff encompasses a comprehensive array of disciplines, including nursing, biochemistry, naturopathic medicine, food science, chemistry and botany. As a member of American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) we share in the mission of a responsible, safe and ethical herbal products industry.

Extensive research and testing ensures optimum growing conditions, harvest time, and specific plant parts containing the highest level of beneficial plant activity. Initial plant selection and handling are the keys to achieving the ultimate quality of finished certifed organic and Biodynamic®. All quality herb species used in the production of our certified organic herbs for supplements, bulk herbs, herbal teas, spices, extracts and herb oils are matched against authentic standard references, giving Oregon's Wild Harvest the distinction of offering customers a "Guaranteed Source" of plant material.

Our state-of-the-art quality control lab provides macro- and microbiological testing, as well as chemical profile testing, to guarantee the purity and identity of plant material. Through careful harvesting and custom drying, we minimize microbial counts of yeast, molds, and bacteria, while retaining the desirable physical properties and beneficial active components of our fresh certified organic herbs.

We are currently conducting research that investigates herb drying methods and herb quality. The project is aimed at determining conditions that yield negligible microbial levels, while retaining the plant's desirable physical properties and beneficial active components.

Testing has shown that processing fresh certified organic herbs without delay often results in naturally occurring potencies at levels previously found only in standardized herbs and standardized herbal extracts. Research also shows high potency whole herbs contain a large array of supporting constituents that increase the beneficial activity beyond that of a single isolated compound. By using a "naturally standardized herb" process, Oregon's Wild Harvest is able to offer the freshest herbal products with guaranteed potency.

TLC ScanWe subject our finished herbal products to Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) testing, which shows a plant's chemical fingerprint. While most companies are concerned with isolating specific compounds, we value the synergistic activity of the whole herb. We use the TLC tests to determine the concentration of therapeutic constituents in fresh quality certified organic and Biodynamic® herbs, and then research methods of maximizing natural growth and specific harvesting application to achieve the highest levels of those constituents.