Pharmacopoeia studies on Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) samples purchased from a pharmacy and herbalists in İzmir and İstanbul

Objective: The aim of this study is to discover if the samples of Zingiber officinale were compatible with the criteria written in the European Pharmacopoeia, as quality control tests, which the analyses were done with the samples supplied from a pharmacy and the herbal stores. Also gathering knowledge from the scientifical literature of the drug’s activities a contribution was made to the phytotherapy. Methods: One pharmacy and five herbalist samples were examined and the quality control tests were done due to the monograph in the European Pharmacopoeia. According to the monograph macroscopic and microscopic assays, thin layer chromatography with methanolic extract, loss on drying, total ash and essential oil determination assays accomplished. Results: With the macroscopic analysis and the microscopic analysis, the pharmacy sample were compatible with the criteria stated in Pharmacopoeia but one sample from herbal store had some unwanted and unidentified particles. The results of the loss on drying test which is repeated three times for each sample showed that the pharmacy sample and one from herbal store has more moisture than stated in the Pharmacopoeia. Also, total ash determination test was done three times and found that all the samples met the criteria stated in the Pharmacopoeia 7.0. Conclusion: The results of the essential oil determination tests showed us that the sample obtained from pharmacy and three of the herbal stores were meeting the criteria but the EO’s of the other samples were under the amount stated in the Pharmacopoeia.