Sponsored by China Health Care Association, the First Work Meeting for Formulation of National Standard Ganoderma Lucidum was held in Beijing on 25 January, giving birth to the basic principles and framework under joint efforts of ShouXianGu Botanical Co., Ltd., China National Institute of Standardization and other organizations. This long-awaited “opening report” will play a significant role in promoting the healthy development and improving the overall level of Chinese ganoderma lucidum industry. 

The highest existing standard for ganoderma lucidum with exception to Chinese Pharmacopoeia

 ZHOU Bangyong, the vice chairman of China Health Care Association, said that formulation of the national standard Ganoderma Lucidum is to be organized by China Health Care Association and China National Institute of Standardization, and conducted by ShouXianGu Botanical Co., Ltd. as the leader. 

With domestically leading and international advanced overall technology, ShouXianGu has formulated various local standards of Zhejiang Province (Technical Regulations for Wood Log Cultivation of Ganoderma Lucidum, Specifications for Processing of Ganoderma Lucidum Spore Powder TCM Decoction), group standards (Commercial Grades for Chinese Materia Medica - Ganoderma, Genuine Medicinal Materials - Red Ganoderma Lucidum in Zhejiang and Anhui), an industrial standard (Certification Standards for Genuine Medicinal Materials (Red Ganoderma Lucidum)) and even an ISO international standard (Traditional Chinese Medicine - Ganoderma Lucidum Fruiting Body), and thus has the ability and conditions to undertake this standard-setting work. 

 According to Dr. XI Xingjun of China National Institute of Standardization, the national standard Ganoderma Lucidum, once formulated, will be the highest existing standard for ganoderma lucidum with exception to Chinese Pharmacopoeia. With a focus on commodity circulation, this standard controls the quality of medicinal materials of ganoderma lucidum to ensure good quality and favorable price of products. Formulated by the ShouXianGu as the responsible leader, this standard bridges the gap between national and international standards on ganoderma lucidum, reflects the will and interests of China and lays a solid foundation for the improvement of ganoderma lucidum international standard.

Professor CHEN Ruoyun of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences said that confusion of varieties and unscientific quality standards were the main problems existing in current ganoderma lucidum industry, and thus it was urgent to set scientific and reasonable quality evaluation standards to regulate the circulation of ganoderma lucidum on the market. 

Researcher LI Hui of the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences agreed with the overall principle of standard setting, and pointed out that industry status should be considered when setting the scope and indexes. Other experts also put forward valuable opinions and suggestions based on their years of work on standardization. 

XU Jing, deputy general manager of ShouXianGu, and head of the Quality Assurance and R&D Center, combined the experience in formulating ISO international standard Traditional Chinese Medicine - Ganoderma Lucidum Fruiting Body with ShouXianGu’s years of work in standardization, and gave constructive opinions and suggestions on the draft standard, showing the solid foundation and industry advantages of ShouXianGu in the study and formulation of ganoderma lucidum standards and receiving high praise from experts and leaders. 

With the opening of the era of TCM and massive health, ganoderma lucidum is accepted by more and more consumers, the day for it listed as a medicinal and edible powder food and new resource food will come soon. It is believed that the formulation, promulgation and implementation of said standard will promote the development of ganoderma lucidum industry, and bring ganoderma lucidum products outside China.

 Standardize production and management processes by double requirements of “genuine + organic”

 In China, ganoderma lucidum is also known as “immortal grass”, “auspicious grass”, “lifesaving drug” and “soul-quieting drug”, and has a long history of application. Among its varieties, red ganoderma lucidum and ganoderma sinense recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia are the most famous and have high medicinal and healthy values. 

Ganoderma lucidum is also well received at abroad. In Japan, 15,000 tons of ganoderma lucidum are consumed every year; in South Korea, ganoderma lucidum is widely applied in the health care and treatment of neurological, immune, cardiocerebral vascular systems; in the United States, ganoderma lucidum was included in the United States Pharmacopoeia in November 2010.

Researcher LI Mingyan, vice chairman of China Medicine Education Association, chairman of Zhejiang TCM Industry Association and chairman of ShouXianGu, said in an interview with the journalist from Zhejiang News Client that for a long term, the level of Chinese ganoderma lucidum industry was relatively low since China could only export ganoderma lucidum fruiting body but import many other varieties, and Chinese products contained less technological contents and low added value, and that there was a big gap between China and Japan, the latter of which has advanced modern agricultural technology. 

Chinese medicine in Japan and traditional Chinese medicine in China are the same in origin, However, Japan made innovation on products with modern science and technology and thus successfully seized more than 80% share on the international TCM market. It was this embarrassing situation that made LI Mingyan, unwilling to accept the situation, feel the urgency to revitalize Chinese traditional medicine.

Designated by the State Scientific and Technological Commission, LI Mingyan went to Japan to study in 1990. After returning back, LI proposed the goal to “build No.1 organic TCM brand”.

“Foreigners know what organic products are, but have no idea about genuine medicinal materials, so we should redefine it with an international language system.” For this purpose, LI Mingyan created the concept “Organic TCM”, carried out product production, management and certification based on traditional genuine TCM processing specifications and in strict compliance with international organic product standards, and standardized production and management processes by double requirements of “genuine + organic”.

In particular, ShouXianGu has been the first domestic enterprise that created a large-scale, standard and ecological TCM industry chain covering various links from breeding, cultivation to deep processing. 

 ShouXianGu has successfully bred new ganoderma lucidum varieties – “Xianzhi 1” and “Xianzhi 2”, which are superior to Japan’s varieties and attached with proprietary intellectual property rights, established a standard traditional Chinese medicinal material cultivation base, invented the “wild-imitated organic cultivation technology” for rare and valuable traditional Chinese medicinal materials, and overcome the technological problem of removing sporoderm of ganoderma lucidum spore powder. 

Based on the sporoderm-broken technology, ShouXianGu has exclusively invented the sporoderm-removal technology which removes sporoderm and retains essence, and thus developed the third-generation sporoderm-removal ganoderma lucidum spore powder, which can be absorbed by the human body efficiently, has a bitter taste, no heavy metal pollution and the smell of artemisia ordosica, and the content of effective components of which is increased by more than 8 times. Complete and full TCM industry chain not only assures the quality of ShouXianGu’s products, but also brings more opportunities for the industrial development. 

The dendrobium officinale market crisis revealed by the CCTV in 2006 has brought about tremendous impact on the whole industry, and rocked the market. However, series products of ShouXianGu were recognized by consumers in this crisis due to its modern cultivation technology, perfect ecological industry chain and reliable quality, making ShouXianGu a benchmarking enterprise. 

The same year, under the call of governmental authorities, ShouXianGu disclosed its “effective wild-imitated dendrobium officinale cultivation technology” to the public for free, which was applied in planting regions of dendrobium officinale in China soon. 

“We are members in a community of shared future.” LI Mingyan said, “As a member of the industry, ShouXianGu has the responsibility and obligation to stand out and assume the due responsibilities when needed by the industry, and to do something for the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.”

 Each and every standard formulated will help the industry develop and progress.

SHEN Yuandong, the vice chairman of International Standardization Organization (ISO) Traditional Chinese Medicine Technical Committee, emphasized that although TCM has spread to more than 180 countries and regions, TCM in international development was hindered by many bottlenecks, the key one of which was the absence of a unified international standard. 

SHEN Yuandong believed that the international standards formulated by ShouXianGu for ganoderma lucidum and dendrobium officinale stem were of great significance for the standardized and international development of the two industries. 

Since the reform and opening up, and with the economic globalization, the progress of science and technology and the release of relevant national policies, traditional Chinese medicine has entered a period of accelerated development in China. At present, it is a good time for the development of traditional Chinese medicine.

LI Mingyan said that each and every standard formulated would help the industry develop and progress, and help realize the transformation from Made in China to Created in China and from China Speed to China Quality. ShouXianGu will, as always, be based on scientific and technological innovation, casting quality with scientific research, casting life with quality, and take the formulation of national standards, international standards and industry standards of traditional Chinese medicine as an opportunity to promote the common development of traditional Chinese medicine industry in the world.

Traditional Chinese medicine will surely have something new in the new era, and under the impetus of national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative, serve the people and go abroad to contribute Chinese wisdom and strength to the global health cause.