Astragalus Root Slices Buyer Guide: Specifications, Quality Checks & COA Requirements

Astragalus Root Slices: Buyer Summary

Astragalus Root Slices are a dried botanical raw material. The material is the dried root of an Astragalus species, cleaned, cut into slices and dried for commercial use. In Chinese trade it is called Huang Qi. In pharmacopoeial and trade documents it appears as Radix Astragali or Astragali Radix.

The slices are supplied in bulk to importers, distributors, tea manufacturers and supplement producers. Different buyers need very different material. A tea manufacturer may need thin, uniform slices. A distributor supplying TCM pharmacies may need a different cut and appearance.

This is why a written specification matters more than a product name. Two suppliers can both offer “Astragalus Root Slices” and ship completely different material. Both shipments can be technically correct if the purchase order was vague.

Buyers should confirm five things before placing an order:

• Botanical identity, plant part, and the standard the identity is defined against — with its edition year
• Slice format and physical tolerances
• Moisture and cleanliness requirements
• Testing panel and COA content
• Origin, packaging and batch traceability

This guide explains how to define each item. Buyers who want commercial details on the material itself can review the Astragalus Root Slices product page.

Confirm Astragalus Root Botanical Identity Before Purchasing

Common names used in trade

The same material is sold under several names:

• Astragalus Root
• Huang Qi / Huangqi
• Radix Astragali
• Astragali Radix
• Milk Vetch Root

These are trade names and traditional medicinal-material names. They are not botanical identification. A purchase order that says only “Huang Qi” does not define what the supplier must deliver.

Buyers should require the botanical name in writing. The botanical name should appear on the purchase order, the specification, the COA and the shipping label.

Identity fields for purchase documents

Terminology differences between standards

Three Latin names appear in international documents. Buyers should understand the difference.

The Chinese Pharmacopoeia describes Astragali Radix as the dried root of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge var. mongholicus (Bunge) Hsiao and Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge.

This is a documentation issue, not a supply problem. The risk appears at customs, during customer audits and during regulatory review. Documents that use different names for the same shipment create questions.

The practical solution is simple. Ask the supplier to state the botanical name in the form your destination market requires. Ask them to list the synonym in brackets where needed. Keep that wording identical across the PO, COA and label.

Avoid Confusion Between Astragalus Root and Hong Qi (Hedysarum polybotrys)

One identity risk in Astragalus Root purchasing is confusion with Hong Qi (Hedysarum polybotrys).

Both materials are traded as Chinese herbal roots. Their commercial descriptions can look similar. They are different botanical materials.

For international procurement, buyers should confirm:

• Botanical name and plant family
• Plant part
• Approved sample linked to a written specification
• Identity information stated on the COA
• Identity test method used by the laboratory

Visual appearance alone should not be used as the only identification method. Buyers can also review common visual identification risks and sulfur-treatment checks in our guide to Astragalus root quality signs.

Our Astragalus root slices product page lists the commercial forms and cut options available for bulk order.

ISO 22988:2020 is the international standard for Astragalus root. Its scope names one botanical source: Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia entry for Astragali Radix recognises two: Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge var. mongholicus (Bunge) Hsiao and Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge.

ISO 22988:2020 and the Chinese Pharmacopoeia do not define the same material. A batch that satisfies the pharmacopoeial botanical identity requirement can fall outside the scope of ISO 22988, because the ISO document covers one botanical source and the pharmacopoeial entry covers two.

This is not a theoretical distinction. It decides which supporting documents a shipment needs and which claim a supplier is entitled to make. A supplier stating “ISO 22988 compliant” is making a narrower identity claim than one stating “Chinese Pharmacopoeia compliant” — and if the delivered material is the second source species, the first claim is not available at all.

Both standards have moved, and recently. The 2025 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia took effect on 1 October 2025. ISO 22988:2020 is being replaced by a second edition: ISO/DIS 22988 entered its DIS ballot on 13 May 2026. A specification written today that still names “Ch.P. 2020” is citing a superseded edition, and one that names “ISO 22988” with no year does not identify which text applies.

What to write on the purchase order:

• Name the standard and its edition year — “Ch.P. 2025”, not “Chinese Pharmacopoeia”; “ISO 22988:2020”, not “ISO 22988”.
• State the botanical source required, using the form your destination market’s standard uses.
• Where a customer specification names ISO 22988, confirm in writing that the delivered source species falls inside its scope.
• Ask the supplier which edition its COA and internal specification are written against, and require notice when that changes. A supplier still issuing COAs against the 2020 edition after 1 October 2025 should be able to explain why.

Whole Root, Root Slices and Commercial Forms

Astragalus is sold in several physical formats. They are not interchangeable. Price comparisons between formats are misleading.

Powder, granules and extracts are separate material categories. They require their own specification, testing panel and process declaration. Do not treat them as substitutes for slices.

Physical parameters to confirm before quotation

Buyers should define these in numbers, not in adjectives:

• Slice thickness range in millimetres
• Slice diameter or size distribution
• Maximum broken-slice percentage, with a written definition of “broken”
• Maximum dust and fines percentage, with the sieve method if one is used
• Expected colour range and permitted natural variation
• Tolerance for rootlets, woody root heads and other non-target portions

Suppliers can meet almost any reasonable requirement. They cannot meet a requirement that was never stated.

How Astragalus Root Slices Are Processed

Astragalus slices are produced through a conventional dry-botanical workflow: inspection, cleaning, cutting, drying, sorting, testing and packing. The stages are not unusual. What varies between suppliers — and what changes the delivered product — is how each stage was actually run.

• Were the roots washed? If so, how was drying controlled afterwards?
• Was any conditioning or softening step used before cutting?
• Was drying natural, hot-air or another controlled method?
• Was sorting manual, screened, optical or a combination?
• Was any post-harvest treatment applied? This includes fumigation, sulphur treatment and irradiation.

The last question deserves a written answer on every purchase. Treatment status affects market acceptance and testing requirements.

Before quotation, buyers should confirm the processing method and final product specification.

Physical Quality Evaluation for Procurement

Inspection items and their procurement purpose

Record results against the approved sample. Photographs are useful evidence in a dispute.

For detailed visual identification points, including sulfur-treatment risks and appearance differences, buyers can refer to our Astragalus root quality guide.

Grade Terms and Buyer-Defined Specifications

Grade names for Astragalus Root Slices — “Grade A”, “Premium”, “Export Grade”, “Selected” — are supplier-defined commercial descriptions, not contract terms. The method for handling them is the same across every herbal slice: take the commercial word, ask what it means in numbers, write the numbers into the specification, approve a sample against those numbers. Our guide to Chinese herbal slice grades works through that conversion.

Testing and COA Requirements

Testing requirements come from three different places. Buyers should separate them, because they do not overlap automatically.

Pharmacopoeial requirements

These apply when the buyer purchases against a named pharmacopoeia or a customer specification derived from one. They do not apply automatically just because the product is a Chinese herbal material.

Typical pharmacopoeial quality-control areas for Astragali Radix include:

• Identity testing — confirming the material is the declared botanical source
• Macroscopy and microscopy — examination of external and cellular characteristics
• TLC (thin-layer chromatography) — a chromatographic identity method
• Moisture / loss on drying — the dried-material condition
• Total ash and acid-insoluble ash — measures of inorganic and mineral residue
• Extractive values — soluble matter extracted by a defined solvent

Each of these has a defined method and a defined limit inside the applicable monograph. Buyers should reference the monograph edition and cite limits from the official text, not from supplier marketing material.

Marker compounds and Astragaloside IV testing

The Chinese Pharmacopoeia framework for Astragali Radix uses marker compounds for content determination. Astragaloside IV is a saponin marker used for this purpose. Calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside is an isoflavonoid marker also referenced in Chinese Pharmacopoeia quality control for this material.

Astragaloside IV testing is normally performed by HPLC. Buyers requesting it should specify:

• The method and the monograph or method version
• The reference standard used
• The acceptance limit, taken from the applicable official standard
• Whether the test is required on every batch or on a defined frequency

Marker content is a quality-control parameter. It is not a performance or health indicator. Buyers should treat it as a specification field only.

Astragalus Root Slices: Ch.P. 2025 and USP Reference Values

The table below lists the reference values most often written into Astragalus Root Slices purchase specifications. Ch.P. 2025 values apply when buying against the Chinese Pharmacopoeia; USP values apply when a U.S. customer specification references the USP monograph. Under Ch.P. 2025, the checks, extractives and assay for the decoction pieces (slices) are the same as for the crude root.

Ch.P. 2025 took effect on 1 October 2025 (NMPA announcement). In the 2025 edition, Astragali Radix no longer carries its own heavy-metal and organochlorine tests in the monograph; both are covered by the general requirements in Chapter 0212 (Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission interpretation, in Chinese). USP values from the USP Astragalus Root Powder monograph. Always confirm limits against the official text of the edition named on your PO.

Buyer quality requirements

These are contract requirements selected by the buyer based on intended use, risk and customer commitments.

Testing scope should always be driven by three inputs: destination market, intended use and buyer specification. A Chinese pharmacopoeial COA alone does not confirm compliance with every export market.

Buyers defining analyte lists, methods and limits can review Aile Herb’s approach to pesticide and heavy metals testing.

COA checklist

The fields a batch COA has to carry are not astragalus-specific: lot number, specification reference, each parameter with its method, unit, limit and result, laboratory identity and a QA release signature. Our Chinese herb COA guide explains each field and what its absence means.

How to Evaluate an Astragalus Root Supplier

Production capability

• Can the supplier document raw-material origin and lot traceability?
• Does the supplier control or qualify its upstream farms and collectors?
• Can the supplier explain each processing step in writing?
• Is slice thickness controlled by written procedure and in-process checks?
• Are storage humidity, pest control and stock rotation managed?
• Is there a system preventing lot mixing during production and packing?

Quality system

• Does the supplier issue a batch-specific COA rather than a generic document?
• Is testing in-house, outsourced, or both? If outsourced, which laboratory?
• Can the supplier supply test methods and raw reports on request?
• Are pesticide and heavy-metal panels suitable for your destination market?
• Are retained samples kept for each production batch?
• Is there a documented nonconformance, complaint and corrective-action process?

Aile Herb’s Chinese herb quality-control process page describes the inspection and release flow applied to herbal slices. Buyers should still confirm which controls apply to their exact SKU and contract specification.

Export capability

• Can the supplier issue commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and phytosanitary documents where required?
• Does the supplier understand destination-market labelling requirements?
• Is export packaging moisture-protective with clear lot marking?
• Is technical documentation available in English with consistent botanical terminology?
• Can the supplier support pre-shipment inspection?
• Can the supplier handle multi-SKU consolidated shipments without lot or label confusion?

Approved Sample and Batch Consistency

Sample approval protects the buyer only when it is linked to a written specification. The sequence that holds up is: approved sample → written specification → production batch → batch COA → shipment review, with each step referencing the one before it. The full workflow, including retention and deviation handling, is in our guide to botanical ingredient sample approval.

Photographic standards help. A simple photo reference for slice size, colour and acceptable broken content resolves most appearance disputes quickly.

Multi-SKU Root and Rhizome Procurement

Most buyers do not purchase Astragalus alone. They purchase several root materials together. Angelica Root, Codonopsis Root and Licorice Root are frequently sourced in the same shipment.

These materials share a procurement workflow. They are dried roots, cut into slices, sorted and packed. The same documentation problems appear on each of them.

Standardising your procurement documents across SKUs saves significant time:

Note that testing panels and physical tolerances are not transferable between materials. Each root has its own specification values. Standardise the document structure, not the numbers inside it.

Buyers sourcing across this material group can review the root and rhizome herbal ingredients range.

Astragalus Root Slices Purchase Order Checklist

Common Buyer Mistakes

• Naming a standard without an edition year. “ISO 22988” and “Chinese Pharmacopoeia” are not identifiable texts. ISO 22988 is currently under revision; the pharmacopoeia is periodically re-issued. Write the year.
• Buying only by common name. “Huang Qi” on a PO does not define botanical source, plant part or slice format.
• Leaving treatment status unstated. Fumigation and sulphur treatment status should be declared in writing on every purchase.

FAQ

What are Astragalus Root Slices? They are the dried root of an Astragalus species, cut into slices and dried for commercial use. The material is known in Chinese trade as Huang Qi and in pharmacopoeial documents as Radix Astragali or Astragali Radix.

What botanical name should appear on purchase documents? The name required by your destination-market standard. Ask the supplier to state it, and to include the relevant synonym in brackets. Keep the same wording across the PO, specification, COA and label.

Are Astragalus membranaceus and Astragalus mongholicus the same? They refer to closely related botanical material, but different standards treat the naming differently. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia and the European Pharmacopoeia use different conventions. Buyers should specify which standard applies rather than assume the names are interchangeable on documents.

Does ISO 22988 cover the same material as the Chinese Pharmacopoeia? No. ISO 22988:2020 states its scope as Astragalus mongholicus root — one botanical source. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia entry for Astragali Radix recognises two. A batch can satisfy the pharmacopoeial identity requirement and still fall outside the ISO document’s scope, so the two claims are not interchangeable on a specification.

Which edition of ISO 22988 applies? ISO 22988:2020 is the published edition. A second edition, ISO/DIS 22988, entered its DIS ballot on 13 May 2026 and is intended to replace it. Until that revision is published, a specification citing “ISO 22988” without a year does not identify which text applies — so write the year, and ask suppliers to give notice if the edition their COA references changes.

What are the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2025 specifications for Astragalus root slices? Under Ch.P. 2025, Astragali Radix is cut into thick slices (2–4 mm) and must meet moisture ≤10.0%, total ash ≤5.0%, ochratoxin A ≤20 µg/kg, water-soluble extractives ≥17.0%, astragaloside IV ≥0.080% and calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside ≥0.020% on a dried basis. Heavy metals follow the general limits in Chapter 0212 (Pb 5, Cd 1, As 2, Hg 0.2, Cu 20 mg/kg).

Which tests should bulk buyers request? That depends on destination market, intended use and internal specification. Identity and moisture are standard on most contracts. Pesticides and heavy metals are common for export, food and supplement use. Microbiology, mycotoxins, sulphur dioxide and marker-compound testing are added based on risk and regulatory requirements.

Conclusion

A clear specification prevents most sourcing disputes. Vague purchase documents create them.

Before requesting a quotation, buyers should prepare the botanical identity, slice specification, testing requirements, packaging details and destination-market requirements.

Discuss your Astragalus Root Slices requirement with Aile Herb.