Explore our foundational botanical extracts exported globally for health, nutrition, and wellness formulation portfolios.
Epimedium Brevicornum, commonly referred to as "Horny Goat Weed," is one of the most clinically demanded botanicals in the dietary supplement industry today. Its active constituent, Icariin (a prenylated flavonol glycoside), is widely studied for its ability to promote cellular energy, enhance testosterone pathways, improve cardiovascular microcirculation, and combat oxidative stress.
As regulatory landscapes evolve across North America, Europe, and Asia, global brands require more than just raw plant powder. They demand clean, standardized extracts that offer high-level HPLC validation, low pesticide residues, and consistent bioactive metrics. The supply chain has shifted away from wild-harvested raw leaf brokers toward integrated domestic suppliers who own the process from breeding and GACP farming to automated industrial extraction.
UniCare is a professional supplier of natural active ingredients. Our products are widely used in various fields such as dietary supplement, food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. We focus on product development and quality stability, and insist on growing together with our customers around the world.
UniCare has deep cooperation with several excellent Chinese manufacturers who have complete quality management system certifications, including but not limited to GMP, EUGMP, CEP, ISO9001, ISO22000, and HACCP. Each factory has independent testing capabilities and is equipped with advanced and efficient testing equipment to ensure the high quality and long-term stability of each batch of products.
Contact Us For QuotesTranslating scientific integrity into global sourcing confidence for the functional health industry.
Unlocking the latent biological properties of traditional plants through targeted phytochemical research and advanced chromatography separation.
Constantly optimizing temperature curves, solvent selection ratios, and spray drying conditions to deliver premium density and dissolution.
Combining state-of-the-art intelligent processing lines with rigorous chemical verification to eliminate batch-to-batch inconsistencies.
Empowering local farming cooperatives through structured buyback programs, adhering strictly to GACP and fair compensation principles.
Why domestic geographical conditions and manufacturing scale create an unmatched sourcing ecosystem.
China is home to over 80% of the world’s native Epimedium species, with the mountainous regions of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu providing the ideal alpine climate, soil acidity, and temperature fluctuations for synthesizing secondary metabolites. Specifically, wild and cultivated Epimedium Brevicornum strains from these regions display superior content levels of Icariin, Epimedin A, B, and C compared to other regional species.
By shifting sourcing to a specialized Chinese factory like UniCare, multinational clients bypass unnecessary brokers. They gain access to vertical extraction hubs that handle dry leaf cleaning, microbial pasteurization, extraction, purification, and vacuum concentration under one clean-room roof.
This localized extraction capacity ensures that the raw leaves are processed within optimal seasonal windows, preventing the degradation of unstable active prenylated flavonoids that commonly happens during long-distance bulk crop transportation.
Operating the largest and most technologically advanced botanicals extraction ecosystem in China.
UniCare attaches great importance to the hardware conditions of production equipment and has the largest and most advanced extraction factory in China. The entire production line in UniCare is controlled by a modern, intelligent, automatic control system. Until now, UniCare has built up two GMP workshops, containing six multi-functional extraction lines, among which there is the only production line for Ginkgo Biloba Extract of acetone process in the whole China. Here are several other production lines including fermentation production lines and Chinese medicine pieces. A total of 30,000 tons of various Chinese medicine plant raw materials can be processed each year.
A visual overview of our industrial processing workshops, extraction halls, and raw material stores.
Ensuring compliance with international purity, heavy metal, and pesticide threshold limits.
UniCare has established a leading and complete quality control system, and strictly controls the high quality of products in accordance with the quality system. With advanced testing instruments, strict control of product quality, to provide every customer with high quality products. Detectable items are: Signature component detection (HPLC or UV), solvent residues GC, pesticide residues (organochlorine detection) GC-MS-MS, heavy metals (lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, copper) ICP-MS microscopic identification, moisture, dry weight loss, ash, microbial limits, thin layer identification, weighing, conductivity, PH, sulfur dioxide residue, routine detection, etc.
Our quality partner networks hold GMP credentials, executing every raw lot separation under close control parameters. The Central lab spans an extensive area and is fully qualified by CNAS accreditation standards.
| Quality Control Segment | Specific Analysis & Standardized Thresholds Verified |
|---|---|
| Active Ingredient Analysis | Assay testing (HPLC/UV), identification profiling of Icariin and Epimedins. |
| Hazardous Substance Analysis | Heavy metals analysis (ICP-MS), pesticide residue sweeps, and residual solvent (GC) levels. |
| Microbe Analysis | Total Aerobic Microbial Count (TAMC), Yeast & Mold (TYMC), E. coli, Salmonella, and customized bio-burden assays. |
| Raw Material Control | Pesticide check at field level, allergen origins identification, Non-GMO verification, and geological tracing. |
| Laws & Regulations Confirmation | Compliance updates for FDA, EFSA, CFDA, and other state regulatory requirements. |
| Stability Test | Accelerated and long-term shelf-life study testing based on ICH stability profiles. |
| Physical Characteristics | Bulk density, tap density, moisture content, total ash, particle size distribution, and solvent solubility. |
To run trace analysis, the factory utilizes top-tier hardware configurations:
| Analytical Instrument Type | Make & Specifications | Testing Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| UHPLC (×2) | Agilent 1290 Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography | High-throughput quantitative mapping of active flavonoids |
| HPLC (×4) | Agilent 1260 High-Performance Liquid Chromatography | Regular batch composition analysis and raw crop assay checks |
| HPLC (×2) | Shimadzu LC-20AT System | Alternative chromatography for process monitoring |
| ELSD (×2) | Shimadzu 2000ES Evaporative Light Scattering Detector | Detection of non-chromophoric natural compounds |
| Gas Chromatograph (×1) | Shimadzu GC-2010 | Testing volatile compounds and organic solvent residues |
| Atomic Absorption (×1) | Shimadzu AA-7000 System | Detecting heavy metal contaminants (Pb, As, Hg, Cd) |
Combining biotechnology with smart farming for cost optimization and botanical purity.
UniCare reinvests 10% of our annual net profit back into research and development. In addition to optimizing and developing the existing natural plant extraction process, we have also established a professional R&D department for the natural fermentation products. By increasing investment in natural fermentation products, we try to break through the traditional processes and disrupt industry development. UniCare has deep cooperation with Beijing University of Chemical Technology in the field of fermentation, jointly developing and transforming the new raw materials of pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and natural health products into mass-produced products.
In order to control raw materials more efficiently and with higher quality, a raw material procurement system has been established, which extends procurement to every piece of planting land and can trace the raw materials of each batch of products. The storage of raw materials is operated according to the advanced quality management system process, and the content of active ingredients, moisture, ash, heavy metals, pesticide residues and other items of raw materials are strictly controlled.
At the same time, in order to further ensure the high quality of important products, UniCare cooperated with planting farmers to establish ginkgo leaf planting bases, epimedium planting bases, phellodendron planting bases, olive leaf planting bases, etc. Some of these bases are planted strictly in accordance with the GACP management model. In addition, we cooperate with seedling research and development companies to develop high-content seedling cultivation, and cultivate better seedlings through hybridization or gene optimization, so as to continuously reduce unit costs to benefit users.
How international dietary supplement and pharmaceutical brands utilize standardized Epimedium extracts.
Icariin acts as an effective botanical alternative in sports nutrition blends. It supports nitric oxide pathway production, enhancing blood flow and post-workout recovery without artificial stimulants.
Typically formulated in capsule, tablet, or softgel products alongside Maca Root, Ginseng, and Tribulus to naturally support vitality and cellular energy pathways.
Emerging scientific studies highlight Icariin’s ability to promote osteoblast differentiation, making it an active ingredient of interest in functional health products targeting bone density preservation.
Key information regarding botanical sourcing, extract verification, and safety parameters.
We primarily harvest and extract Epimedium Brevicornum Maxim. and Epimedium Sagittatum. For high-purity Icariin requirements (e.g., above 50%), we select Epimedium Brevicornum due to its favorable starting HPLC flavonoid fingerprint.
We monitor these risks right from our GACP-certified soil beds. Extraction runs utilize purified water and food-grade ethanol. Finally, every batch is verified via ICP-MS (for heavy metals) and GC-MS/MS (to guarantee PAH levels comply with strict European Commission standards).
Yes. We specialize in custom active concentrations, ranging from low-ratio water-soluble powders (e.g., 4:1, 10:1) to standardized Icariin concentrations (10%, 20%, 50%, 60%, and 98% HPLC). We can also customize bulk density to match your capsule-filling requirements.
Standard specifications (e.g., Icariin 10%, 20%) are regularly held in stock, allowing for dispatch within 5-7 working days. Custom extraction runs or complex specifications usually require 15-21 days from order validation to sea or air cargo dispatch.
Yes, we employ state-of-the-art spray drying and vacuum drying systems. Residual solvent testing is routinely performed via gas chromatography (GC) to ensure values are well below the limit thresholds established by USP <467> and EP guidelines.
Providing high-purity natural active ingredients to global pharmaceutical, dietary, and cosmetic formulators.
