A Brief Note on 'Crumbs' and 'Dust'
When buying Chinese herbs, one often hears the seller say a little crumbling does no harm — and worse, that the dust mixed in with the herbs has therapeutic effect too. Perhaps it's said in jest, but if these are medicines for treating illness — a matter of human life — can such things be joked about?
As for crumbs in the dose, that should count as deception. In any other purchase one expects quality to match price; nobody would pay for pastries and accept a bag of crumbs, nobody would swap leaves for tea-dust. Medicine is medicine, dregs are dregs, dust is dust. The mixing of medicine, crumbs, and dust has gone on for years, and hospitals and patients alike have grown used to it.
Pingxintang has lately made this a focus — strict inspection, fine sifting — to lift the quality of dispensed herbs another notch. We also urge patients to raise their own awareness of these rights, and to help us hold ourselves to the promise of "guarding drug quality for our patients."