Investigation of medicinal plants industry in Turkey

Natural product industry has astonishingly developed in last decades throughout the world. From food to pharmaceutical industry, from perfumery and cosmetics to textile industry industries many industries have been substituted their chemical products by plant based natural ones. These industrial plants used in these natural product industries have been well known as Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. The number of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants used as ethnobotanic purposes and in these industries as raw material is estimated about ten thousands. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants have important raw materials for natural products industry, as well. Based on deep ethnobotanic heritage in Turkey, medicinal and aromatic plants have been used novel natural products development. Similar to other countries in the world, most of these plants have been provided from natural resources and some of them have been cultivated in the fields. Medicinal and aromatic plants industry in Turkey could be divided into different braches like spice, herbal tea, plant based extracts, food additives and mixtures, essential and fatty oils, natural cosmetics, perfumery, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. Spice industry is the main industry with the biggest supply among the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants sector in Turkey. Oregano, bay leaf, cumin, rosemary, mint, coriander, poppy, anise and sage are the main spices which have been collected or cultivated, processed and marketed to domestic and international companies. Spice industry works mainly post-harvest processing, separating, grinding and packaging. Herbal tea sector is the second big sector that growing very fast in Turkey. Besides wild collected herbs and flowers, wild fruits with their distinguished taste, aroma and medicinal properties have special place in this industry. Herbal tea industry produces mainly tea bags, instant/soluble formulations and mixed herbal tea products. In parallel with the development of food supplements and nutraceutical industries in Turkey, some companies started to produce plant extract by new technologies such as spray drying, freeze drying, foam mat drying, supercritical CO2 extraction etc. Additionally, some molasses and syrups for herbal mixtures and formulations have been produced from carob and juniper. Essential and fatty oil sectors are high added value sector for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Rosa, lavender, oregano, bay leaf, sage, mint and citrus essential oils are the prominent products used in food, perfumery, pharmaceutical, cleaning and self-care products. Seed fatty oils like black cumin, pumpkin, almond, apricot, sesame, hazelnut, grape, pomegranate, fig etc. are the most popular oils in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, recently. To maintain their natural structure with useful compounds, these oils have been produced by cold press machines. As a result, from nature and field to last natural products Medicinal and Aromatic Plants industry has gradually developed, novel production methods and the companies have been equipped by modern technologies in order to produce high quality natural products with useful bioactive compounds in Turkey.