Monitoring heavy metals, residual agricultural chemicals and sulfites in traditional herbal decoctions.

Background: Asian traditional herbal preparations are frequently considered for the contamination with undeclared toxic or hazardous substances. The aim of this study was to determine the toxic heavy metals, pesticides and sulfur dioxide in decoctions that is a common form of final utilization in Korea.

Methods: A total of 155 decoctions composed of multi-ingredient traditional herbs were randomly sampled from Seoul in Korea between 2013 and 2014.