Ginseng dilemma solved

Otago University senior chemistry lecturer Dr Barrie Peake has come up with a way to prove that Wisconsin’s ginseng really does comes from Wisconsin, putting an end to fraud in places like China, where suppliers claim that lesser-quality ginseng comes from the Badger State — thus devaluing the local American crop. Peake has developed a fingerprint which identifies traces like copper from the soil where the ginseng is grown. Butch Weege of the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin says it’s a first for the industry — and it finally creates a procedure to determine if a Wisconsin product is authentic. Peake is an environmental chemist with a particular research interest in natural aquatic systems.