The ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) has marked 15 years of addressing adulteration and fraud in the international marketplace, serving the dietary supplement and medicinal plant communities, along with their consumers.

Since its inception, BAPP has produced research and educational resources, including more than 100 peer-reviewed publications to support botanical ingredient authenticity and integrity.

BAPP produces botanical adulterant bulletins, laboratory guidance documents, the Botanical Adulterants Monitor e-newsletter, and special articles in peer-reviewed journals, including ABC’s Herbalgram. BAPP’s 100th publication, a comprehensive view of turmeric adulteration, appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Pharmaceutical Biology in January 2026.

Another notable achievement was the “BAPP Best Practices SOP for the Disposal/Destruction of Irreparably Defective Articles,” a guidance on removing “irreparably defective” ingredients from the supply chain.

BAPP was founded in 2011 by Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council, to educate the global industry and other stakeholders about ingredient and product adulteration. BAPP has grown into the largest international nonprofit consortium focused on ensuring botanical ingredient integrity. While adulteration issues persist, BAPP has helped industry members tighten ingredient specifications, improve quality control, and, in some cases, source higher-quality ingredients.

BAPP’s readership includes researchers, scientists, industry members, and regulators, and its documents have been read more than 100,000 times according to ResearchGate; BAPP reports have been cited 560 times in peer-reviewed scientific publications.  To date, 59 authors have contributed to BAPP publications, and more than 230 experts have been involved in the peer-review process. The nonprofit has been endorsed, supported, and/or underwritten by more than 200 companies and organizations.

“In my opinion, one of the merits of BAPP is that it has shaped the conversation about adulteration in a way that is scientifically accurate. One of the greatest privileges of my job is that it allows me to work with highly qualified scientific writers who know the botanical ingredient supply chain and the analytical aspects of ingredient authentication very well,” said Stefan Gafner, chief science officer of ABC and director of BAPP. “I am especially grateful for the important contributions of the late Steven Foster and Ezra Bejar, who have helped shape the program in the early years.”

“Herbs have been the primary source of medicines for humans since the beginning of humankind,” said Roy Upton, founder and executive director of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) and partner in BAPP. “We have depended on them for our own health and the health of our children. It is unfortunate that some commercially available products have been subject to adulteration in a way that renders products ineffective, and sometimes even unsafe. Sadly, some of these cases of adulteration are due to the desire to seek greater profit at the expense of human health. With BAPP’s 100th publication specifically dedicated to this subject, BAPP provides comprehensive tools to bring a heightened level of integrity to the herbal products market. AHP is both proud and grateful for the ABC team, which has taken the lead in managing this project.”

“Adulteration has existed throughout the history of commerce in foods and medicines, and any modern company dealing with herbs needs tools to comply with regulations that ensure the quality of botanical materials,” said Holly Johnson, PhD, chief science officer at the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA). “BAPP provides both timely bulletins to spread awareness when market issues arise and highly researched lab guidance documents that offer fit-for-purpose analytical methods to detect even sophisticated adulterations. BAPP’s body of work is a significant contribution to the integrity and future of our field; AHPA commends this milestone publication and supports the ongoing mission of BAPP.”

“On behalf of all of us at BAPP — including our partners Roy Upton at AHP and Prof. Ikhlas Khan at the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) — Dr. Gafner and I are grateful to have achieved these milestones demonstrating the high level of productivity of BAPP in the international medicinal plant community and natural products industry,” said Blumenthal. “We are profoundly grateful to the over 200 responsible members of the herb and medicinal plant industry — for-profit companies, nonprofit organizations, and research centers — that have underwritten, supported, or endorsed BAPP’s efforts to increase the quality and quantity of scientifically reliable resources, help ensure the authenticity of medicinal plant ingredients, and enhance the safety and efficacy of natural medicines. Although BAPP publications and programs are geared toward responsible members of the industry, by helping them ensure appropriate specifications to help ensure the authenticity for their herbal ingredients, BAPP is, in essence, a consumer health program.”