Plants or plants extracts in animal’s supply

What is a plant extract?

(Denis BELLENOT, director of Iteipmai, presentation made during the distributors meeting, February the 9th of 2007, and based on the European Pharmacopoeia). 

Extracts are liquid preparations (fluids and dyes axtracts), with a semisolid consistency (soft or hard extracts) or solid (dry extracts), obtained from vegetal drugs or animal materials, generally in dry state.

Fluid extract: liquid preparation for which 1 part in mass or volume corresponds generally to 1 part in mass of dried vegetal drug. Fluids extracts are prepared using ethanol (with an appropriate alcohol by volume) or water to extract vegetal drug, or by the dissolution of a dry or soft drug extract, either in ethanol with an appropriate alcohol by volume, or in water.

Dyes: liquid preparations generally obtained from one part of vegetal drug and 5 or 10 parts of extraction solvent. Dyes are prepared by maceration or percolation, only using ethanol for the extraction of vegetal drug, or in ethanol only or by percolation, or by dissolution of a dry or soft extract of vegetal drug in ethanol with an appropriate alcohol by volume.

Soft or hard extracts: semisolid preparations, prepared by evaporation or partial evaporation of the solvent used for their production. Dry extracts generally present a loss during their desiccation or a water content of 5% m/m maximum.