From Risky to Reliable: Plant Cell Culture as the Future of Botanicals

Botanicals and fungi are the foundation of many health and wellness products. They provide key bioactive ingredients that drive their health benefits. However, recent testing shows quality and authenticity remain serious challenges. In August 2025, Alkemist Labs released its latest Herbs & Fungi We’re Watching list, flagging ingredients that frequently fail identity testing due to adulteration, substitution, or contamination. 

The 2025 list includes several common botanicals and fungi, such as lemon balm, chamomile, rhodiola, reishi, and monk fruit. These bioactive ingredients are widely used in dietary supplements and functional foods. Yet their repeated appearance reflects persistent vulnerabilities in the global botanical and fungi supply chain. 

Across the industry, these findings echo broader reports from the American Botanical Council’s Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP). Independent scientific reviews also highlight a troubling pattern. Some of the most in-demand botanicals and fungi, valued for their bioactive ingredients, are also the most frequently adulterated. 

Why It Matters for Bioactive Ingredients 

Adulterated and contaminated botanicals and fungi threaten regulatory compliance, weaken consumer trust, and compromise product safety and efficacy. These product inconsistencies also create real risk for formulators and brands: 

• Unreliable sourcing disrupts innovation. 

• Unknown bioactive profiles compromise product performance. 

• Safety concerns damage consumer confidence. 

These challenges are especially concerning for common botanical ingredients used across product categories, such as echinacea for immune health, lemon balm for relaxation, and sage for cognitive support, all of which have appeared on watchlists for adulteration. 

Why Does Botanical Adulteration and Contamination Happen? 

Adulteration and contamination occur for multiple reasons, both intentional and unintentional: 

• Economic Adulteration

  Ingredient suppliers may partially or fully replace valuable botanicals with cheaper look-alike species, use lower-cost plant parts, or spike products with synthetic compounds that mimic desired bioactivates, all for economic gain. This practice is well-documented as economically motivated adulteration (EMA). 

• Supply Chain Pressure

  When demand exceeds supply, especially for rare or seasonal botanicals, suppliers may compromise quality, cut corners, or include inferior material to meet volume needs. 

• Misidentification of Species or Plant Parts

  Without rigorous testing and authentication, raw material may be misidentified or even be a different species or plant part than intended, which seriously undermines authenticity. 

• Cross-Contamination

  Careless harvesting, mishandling during processing, or poor quality control during storage or transportation can unintentionally mix or degrade botanicals and increase the risk of unintended contamination. 

• Environmental Contaminants

  Botanicals and fungi grown in polluted soil or water may absorb heavy metals, pesticides, or microbes. In extreme cases, fungi like cordyceps have even been deliberately soaked in mineral solutions or had lead solder inserted to artificially increase weight. Clinical cases of lead poisoning from contaminated cordyceps further underscore this risk. 

• Inconsistent Quality Control

  Wide variations in regulatory oversight, testing standards, and manufacturing protocols across regions can allow adulterated material to enter supply chains undetected. Poor quality control, especially in fragmented supply chains, drives adulteration risk. 

Together, these factors explain why adulteration remains widespread. Even established botanical markets are affected. These supply chain issues demonstrate the urgent need for new sources of botanicals and production methods that can bypass these risks altogether. 

Broader Industry Insights: Reports and Studies 

The problem of adulterated botanicals is not isolated to a handful of ingredients. A growing body of reports shows just how widespread it has become: 

• Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP): In late 2024, BAPP issued its first-ever bulletin on cordyceps mushroom, documenting rampant adulteration. Issues included glued-together parts of caterpillar and fungus, undeclared fillers, and even the addition of lead to increase mass. By December 2024, BAPP had published 29 adulterant bulletins and 16 laboratory guidance documents, underscoring the scale and persistence of the problem. 

• Scientific Reports on Botanical Adulteration: A 2024 analysis found that ginkgo leaf extracts were the most frequently adulterated ingredient, followed by black cohosh. Other highly adulterated botanicals included bilberry and rhodiola root/rhizome.  

• Essential Oils Market Risks: The same report noted that certain essential oils are also vulnerable to adulteration, though data on the full scale of the issue remains incomplete. 

Together, these findings highlight a systemic issue: Many of the most popular botanicals and their bioactive ingredients remain at the highest level of adulteration. 

Plant Cell Culture: A Reliable Alternative for Botanicals and Bioactive Ingredients

Plant cell culture offers a sustainable, contaminant-free, and fully traceable solution to these challenges. Instead of relying on vulnerable agricultural supply chains, plant cell culture produces pure botanicals and their bioactive ingredients in controlled indoor environments. 

At Ayana Bio, we’re advancing plant cell culture technology to deliver consistent, high-quality bioactive ingredients without the risks of adulteration or environmental variability. We refer to this as the Plant Cell Advantage^® (PCA).

Examples of Plant Cell Advantage^® Ingredients: 

• Lemon Balm PCA (Melissa officinalis) – Frequently listed on adulteration watchlists but produced via plant cell culture with standardized levels of rosmarinic acid and other active compounds. 

• Sage PCA (Salvia officinalis) – Known for its cognitive benefits and use in food and beverage preservation, yet prone to substitution in supply chains. Ayana Bio’s plant cell sage ensures purity and potency. 

• Echinacea PCA (Echinacea purpurea) – Popular for immune support but well documented to be adulterated often as reported in a July 2025 bulletin by BAPP. Our plant cell echinacea provides a clean, consistent, and scalable source of immune-supporting bioactive ingredients. 

• Holy Basil PCA (Ocimum sanctum syn tenuflorium) – A revered adaptogen vulnerable to inconsistent quality. Plant cell culture can deliver a reliable source of tulsi bioactives. 

By bypassing traditional agriculture, plant cell culture guarantees identity, eliminates contaminants, and ensures that bioactive ingredients perform as intended. 

Building a Stronger Future for Botanicals 

The latest results from Alkemist Labs and BAPP underscore the urgency of improving quality control across the botanical industry. But innovation is already offering an alternate path forward. 

Plant cell culture represents the next generation of botanical production, one that protects product integrity, strengthens consumer trust, and enables the industry to scale with confidence. 

At Ayana Bio, we believe the future of botanicals lies in pairing tradition with technology. By ensuring purity and consistency, we can deliver the full potential of nature’s bioactive ingredients without compromise.