On February 2, the New York State attorney general’s office accused four major retailers—GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart—of selling fraudulent and potentially dangerous herbal supplements and demanded that they remove the products from store shelves, according to a New York Times (NYT) article. Authorities said they had conducted tests on top-selling store brands of herbal supplements at each of the four national retailers and determined that four out of five of the products did not contain any of the herbs listed on their labels, reported the NYT. Further, the tests showed that the supplements labeled medicinal herbs often contained little more than cheap fillers and authorities suggested that in some cases these substances could be dangerous to those with allergies.

Among the attorney general’s findings was a popular store brand of ginseng pills at Walgreens that authorities said contained only powdered garlic and rice. At Walmart, authorities discovered that its ginkgo biloba products contained only powered radish, houseplants and wheat, while three out of six herbal products at Target tested negative for the herbs listed on their labels. The agency also said they found pills with unlisted ingredients used as fillers at GNC.

The announcement marks the first time that a law enforcement agency has threatened the nation’s largest retail and drugstore chains with legal action for selling what it contends were deliberately misleading herbal supplements. The four retailers on Monday were issued cease-and-desist letters and the attorney general demanded that they each explain what procedures are used to verify the ingredients in their supplements.

The action by the attorney general’s office promoted responses from the Natural Products Association (NPA), the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA).

“The full details and data the New York Attorney General found through DNA tests have not been made available to the public,” noted NPA CEO and Executive Director Daniel Fabricant, PhD. “We do not know exactly what was tested, and no labels of products have been shared. The Natural Products Association has confirmed with one of the retailers, GNC, that every product tested was a botanical extract, in which DNA is unlikely to be intact, making that test not fit for the purpose. Therefore, if the study is using the wrong tool, that hardly seems newsworthy or beneficial for consumers. We encourage the New York attorney general’s office to release the full study details promptly, and look forward to reviewing them thoroughly.”

“These actions today by the New York State Attorney General’s (AG) office smack of a self-serving publicity stunt under the guise of protecting public health,” added Steve Mister, president and CEO of CRN. “Supposed concerns about the products in question are based on a novel testing method that has been roundly criticized by botanical scientists who question whether DNA barcoding technology is an appropriate or validated test for determining the presence of herbal ingredients in finished botanical products. Processing during manufacturing of botanical supplements can remove or damage DNA; therefore while a DNA testing method can be useful in some cases, this method well may be the wrong test for these kinds of products.

“Nor does the DNA testing method provide information on the amounts of food contaminants found in the products,” he continued. “This is important because there are well-established legal thresholds that allow for trace amounts of some ingredients like gluten, and trace amounts of DNA from rice, beans, pine, citrus, etc., that are not considered harmful or required on labels. Announcing the detection of minute amounts of these substances unnecessarily alarms consumers without informing them whether the detection of DNA from these substances poses any allergic risk.”

George Pontiakos, president and CEO of BI Nutraceuticals, the largest supplier of botanical ingredients in the U.S., noted, “DNA testing is not a panacea, it is only one aspect of a layered approach to species identification testing.”

In addition, “All facilities that manufacture herbal supplements are required by U.S. law to comply with strict current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) requirements that are enforced by the FDA,” stated AHPA Chief Science Officer Maged Sharaf, PhD. “These cGMP requirements mandate that manufacturers have proper controls in place to ensure the quality of their dietary supplement products and to help assure consumers that they get accurately labeled and unadulterated dietary supplements. One section of the cGMP requirements directs manufacturers to verify the identity of botanical ingredients and document the testing used to verify identity. FDA regularly inspects dietary supplement manufacturing facilities to ensure compliance with cGMP requirements and has authority to take action to protect consumers when products are not manufactured in compliance with cGMP requirements and could pose a danger to consumers.”