In response to the concerns raised by the recent publicity of adulteration and contamination of certain products from China, BioVittoria would like to assure all our customers that PureLo®, our proprietary Luo Han concentrate, is free from any adulteration or contamination.

BioVittoria remains committed to producing the highest quality Luo Han in the market, and is happy to discuss any questions you may have regarding this issue, please contact us at info@biovittoria.com .

Please click on the News page to view our Adulteration and Contamination Free Declaration.

Facts

The PureLo® brand of Luo Han Guo fruit concentrate is considered completely safe for human use. It has been certified as GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe) as a flavour modifier and sweetener by an independent expert panel according to US FDA regulations. In addition to that, Biovittoria has conducted several toxicological studies, and no abnormal signs were observed. Extracts of the Luo Han Guo fruit have been used in Guangxi Province, the only region in the world where it grows, in excess of 300 years.

PureLo® represents the culmination of the fusion of nature and science. We use tissue cultures methods to produce the most robust, disease-resistant, high yielding plants, for which we hold the plant variety rights. These selected plants are planted and cared for by the indigenous peoples of the region, primarily the Miao and Yao peoples, using farming methods preserved over many generations including hand pollination and pruning.

Our joint venture partnership with local experts, Bio-GFS, ensures informational and logistical support for our grower’s association. This allows us to bring vine-fresh, fully mature fruits, picked at their peak, to our extraction facility for prompt processing. The resulting extract is assayed for content and absence of contaminants and is consistently the finest quality available on the world market.

Each batch is shipped with a verified certificate of analysis. Accepted standards for testing of contaminants, including heavy metals and bacteria, are rigidly adhered to. As the material is non-fermentable, inherently stable over broad temperature and pH ranges, certified “OU” Kosher, and packaged in metallic/Mylar vacuum-sealed containers, there are no stability or shelf-life concerns.

Luo Han Guo has been used by populations of Asian-origin worldwide for over 100 years. In the United States, dried fruits were brought over by workers building the transcontinental railroad in the early 1900’s. Various preparations have been imported into the United States since that time and The Food and Drug Administration considers the fruit and it’s powdered extract a food.

It is our belief that due to the highly stable nature of the sweet components in PureLo®, triterpene glycosides called mogrosides, there will be no associated safety issues created by the blending of our material with accepted food components in any human application.

Small amounts of pesticides extracted from the flowers of the Chrysanthemum family such as permethrin, fenvalerate, tetramethrin, allethrin, cypermethrin, are applied between April and May. The plant begins to flower in August and the fruit are harvested in October. No detectable traces of this naturally decaying application of pesticide remain at harvest.

Our research into creating higher yields and greater batch-to-batch consistency is ongoing. The involvement of experts in the field from seedling generation to final product distribution guarantees safety and consistency of content and supply. You have our assurance that you are considering the finest Luo Han Guo product available.

In 1983, Takekimatsuharu [1] using mice, rabbits and dogs reported:

• The extract resisted intestinal shrinkage induced by BaCl or acetyl chlorine challenge

• LD 50 (lethal dose that reduces the test population by 50%) testing on mice using a freeze-dried perparation of mogroside was greater than 10 g/kg

In 1993, Chen Hongbin [2] using mice reported:

• Using the maximum concentration (60 %) and maximum volume (0.4 ml/ log wt) poured the solution (equivalent to 24 g/ kg body weight) down the throat, and observed the activity of the animal and found no fatalities. The animals were under observation for two weeks after the dosage and there was no abnormal behavior and no fatalities observed.

References

[1] Zhao Jifu et al, 1993, ; A Corpus of the Research, Development and the Utilization of Chinese Medicine LO-HAN-KUO, Beijing.
[2] Chen Hongbin. 1993, ; A Corpus of the Research, Development and the Utilization of Chinese Medicine LO-HAN-KUO, Beijing.

*Please contact us to obtain the full safety report