Classic/Recommended Methods and Development of new Methods to Control Residues and Contaminants of Botanicals

A remarkably high number of analytical methods concerning bioactive compounds, contaminants and biomarkers of exposure in Plant Food Supplements (PFS) have been developed by different scientific groups. The work present an update of classic and new developed methods for detection of several heavy metals, pesticides and mycotoxins from different samples. The advantages, the characteristics of different analytical procedures, as well as the possible interferences, were underlined. Some of the novel methods, in particular biosensors, for heavy metal pesticide and mycotoxin analysis in PFS and microchip based tools (Screen Printed Electrodes) seems to be available for routine analytical tools in the near future.