REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1658241
This article is part of the Research TopicNovel Technologies and Methods for Monitoring Exogenous Harmful Residues in Traditional and Local Medicinal Plants and FungiView all 3 articles
Advances in Research on Novel Technologies for the Detection of Exogenous Contaminants in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Provisionally accepted
- Shenzhen Institute For Drug Control, Shenzhen, China
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Exogenous contaminants in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including pesticide residues, heavy metals, mycotoxins, and sulfur dioxide residues, pose significant risks to human health and environmental safety. Conventional detection methods are limited by insufficient sensitivity, complex sample preparation, and challenges in multi-residue analysis, compromising accuracy and efficiency. To address these critical bottlenecks—particularly the escalating regulatory demands and trade barriers due to contamination incidents—this review establishes the first integrated 'dual track' quality control framework for TCM contaminants. We propose a novel risk stratified strategy synergizing laboratory grade accuracy with field deployable screening, overcoming the sensitivity portability trade-off. This work provides a roadmap for establishing globally harmonized standards. Future research should prioritize high-throughput methods, intelligent analytics, and green detection technologies. Integrating AI-driven automation with data traceability could establish unified systems for contaminant detection and degradation, enhancing TCM quality control and global competitiveness.
Keywords: Chinese materia medica, exogenous contaminants, novel technologies and methods, biosensor, Quality of traditional Chinese medicine
Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guo, Li, Zeng, Wang, Li, Su and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chang Su, Shenzhen Institute For Drug Control, Shenzhen, China
Shuhong Wang, Shenzhen Institute For Drug Control, Shenzhen, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.