Page 11 - Technical Saw Palmetto Booklet

MTC Industries, Inc.
Herbsine Bioengineering Co., Ltd.

7. Heavy metals and Residual Solvents

Heavy metals and residual solvents are common contaminants. Hexane and petroleum
ether can also be used to extract saw palmetto oil, but there may be risk of solvent
residues. So we tested and compared them separately:

SN-180401 UV-171023 EE-1800628 Test Method
Pb Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected

Cd Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected
Heavy metal ICP-MS
Hg Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected
As Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected
Ethyl Acetate Not Detected 3.6 Not Detected
n-Heptane Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected
Residual solvents n-Hexane Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected GC-MS
n-Pentane Not Detected Not Detected Not Detected
Ethanol Not Detected 89.9 Not Detected
Table-5 Heavy Metals and residual solvents of various saw palmetto oils (ppm)

We are surprised that residues of ethanol and ethyl acetate are found in saw palmetto oil
of batch UV-171023. By CO2 supercritical extraction, it’s quite abnormal to test out
these two solvents in saw palmetto oil. The data should be discussed.

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