Definitional Differences: Traditional
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) slices are processed forms of TCM that can be directly used in clinical preparations or pharmaceutical preparations, while common TCM materials refer to their unprocessed, natural medicinal parts (such as roots, stems, and leaves).
According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, TCM slices must meet statutory standards for properties, content determination, and microbial limits, while TCM materials only need to meet origin identification and basic physical and chemical indicators.
Core links of production process
Purification : Remove impurities and non-medicinal parts through screening, water washing, etc., such as removing the rhizome of ginseng.
Cutting : Cut into sections (licorice), slices (astragalus) and other specifications according to the medicinal properties, and the thickness is controlled at 0.5-4mm.
Preparation :
Stir-frying (stir-frying Atractylodes macrocephala with bran reduces its dryness)
Steaming (Rehmannia root enhances blood-tonifying effect)
Calcined (calcined oyster enhances astringency)
Drying : Use hot air circulation (temperature 40-80℃) or vacuum drying to control moisture ≤13%.
Packaging : Aluminum foil bags filled with nitrogen to prevent oxidation and deterioration.
The key points of quality control
include HPLC testing of active ingredients (such as baicalin ≥9.0%), thin-layer chromatography to identify authenticity, and heavy metal (lead ≤5ppm) and pesticide residue (hexachlorocyclohexane ≤0.1mg/kg) testing.