Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) predominantly use plant material for the
preparation of medicines. Amla (Emblica officinalis) is an important medicinal fruit bearing plant
of central India and used widely by Ayurvedic industries for making Chyavanprash. Fresh (green)
fruits were collected immaturely i.e. in September month, by the gatherers from the natural forest
of Dhamtari district. Fruit drying process was found unhygienic and stakeholders adopted unethical
practices like imbibing fruits in salt water, mixing of adulterants etc. The present study aims to
find out prevailing harvesting methods impacting raw material quality. The visual inspection of
forest and market samples were collected from Dhamtari district, Chhattisgarh (India) and malpractices
adopted by various stakeholders were also discussed in this paper.
Key words: Adulteration, Quality, Visual, Medicinal, Harvesting, Malpractices
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