The study, soon to be launched and completed four months later, will aim to identify bacterial and fungal contamination in widely used herbs and establish microbial limits and testing standards to make herbal products safer, they added.
The plan follows the results of an August 2025 study by the National Institute of Nutrition of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which revealed that 63.6% of 110 samples of solid herbal preparations exceeded aerobic bacterial limits.
The study found contamination with Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, E. coli, yeasts and molds – microorganisms that can cause a range of infections, including food poisoning, skin and respiratory infections and gastrointestinal diseases.
Even national and international journals have reported the detection of harmful pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in several herbal formulations available in the market.
The move also assumes significance as the country exported herbal and ayusha (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy) products worth $689.34 million in 2024-25 and $651.17 million in the previous year, according to commerce ministry data.
Additionally, India’s Ayush market is projected to grow by $200 billion by 2030 from $40 billion in 2024. The segment is on track to reach $70 billion by the end of 2025, according to the Commerce Ministry’s India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a body set up to promote Made-in-India. VM was necessarily something bad. Katoch, former Director General of ICMR, told Mint.
“This should be seen as an alarm. If the same findings are consistently observed in different regions, then it becomes a matter of concern. Quality control orders are already in place for all medicines. The study should be done on a multi-centre scale. If improvements are needed, it should be done scientifically and systematically. Involvement of the drug regulatory system in such studies and monitoring is essential,” he said.
Queries emailed on Thursday to the consumer affairs ministry and the national standards body, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), remained unanswered till the time of publication.
“The project was launched to ensure quality control and standardization in a growing sector of traditional medicine that remains largely unregulated in terms of microbial safety,” said the first of the people cited above, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
The study (titled Determination of microbial load in herbal materials used in traditional medicine) will define safety standards that can be incorporated into Indian standards and help develop validated test methods for detecting microbes in herbal crude drugs, a second official said.
The project will conduct microbial tests on at least ten commonly used herbs in NABL or Ayush accredited laboratories with expertise in microbial analysis.
The study will focus on the detection of four key pathogens — E. coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus — using validated test methods based on the country’s official book of drug standards, the Indian Pharmacopoeia, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines prescribed by the World Health Organization and standards prescribed by the Pharmacopoeia Committee for Indian Medicine and Homeopathy of the Ministry of Ayush.
It will also analyze import and export dynamics of plant materials, identify contamination risks across supply chains and assess how manufacturers handle microbial testing and quality assurance, officials said.
Security versus over-regulation
Experts warn that excessive microbial content can pose health risks, especially for elderly and immunocompromised users.
“It is a good step by the government to improve the quality of Ayurvedic medicines as there are cases where medicines made for export markets are of good quality, while medicines meant for the domestic market are often of lower quality. This difference would be removed if the study is done consistently,” said Dr. Rakesh Kotwal, Doctor (Ayurveda) of Jam.District and Kashmutwar Hospital in Smir.
While experts have welcomed the move for its potential to improve quality, industry representatives warn against over-regulation.
“The study should not be conducted with the intention of treating these materials as drugs. Such materials should not be subject to the same regulations as pharmaceutical drugs. In the US, they are considered dietary supplements, not drugs, and applying strict medical regulations to them would not be appropriate,” said Vachaspati Tripathi, managing director of Surya Pharmaceuticals, which exports traditional medicines, including to the US.
Anurag Sharma, Chairman, Ayush Export Promotion Council, was not available for comment.
