About the Authors

Alicia Garcia-Alvarez

Affiliation Fundación para la Investigación Nutricional, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Bernadette Egan

Affiliation Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom

Simone de Klein

Affiliation PhytoLab GmbH & Co KG, Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany

Lorena Dima

Affiliation Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania

Franco M. Maggi

Affiliation Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

Merja Isoniemi

Affiliation Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Helsinki, Finland

Lourdes Ribas-Barba

Affiliations Fundación para la Investigación Nutricional, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Ciber Obn Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y la Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

Monique M. Raats

Affiliation Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom

Eva Melanie Meissner

Affiliation PhytoLab GmbH & Co KG, Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany

Mihaela Badea

Affiliation Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania

Flavia Bruno

Affiliation Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

Maija Salmenhaara

Affiliation Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Helsinki, Finland

Raimon Milà-Villarroel

Affiliation Fundación para la Investigación Nutricional, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Viktoria Knaze

Affiliation Fundación para la Investigación Nutricional, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Charo Hodgkins

Affiliation Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom

Angela Marculescu

Affiliation Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania

Liisa Uusitalo

Affiliation Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Helsinki, Finland

Patrizia Restani

Affiliation Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

Lluís Serra-Majem

(lserra@dcc.ulpgc.es)

Affiliations Fundación para la Investigación Nutricional, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Ciber Obn Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y la Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain, Institute of Biomedical and Health Research of Las Palmas, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Competing Interests

Simone de Klein and Eva Melanie Meissner are employees of PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG, Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany: PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG is an independent, accredited (in accordance with DIN EN 17025) and officially recognized service laboratory (in accordance with § 14 AMG [German Drug Law], which is also GMP-certified. Analysis, development, quality control and regulatory affairs of herbal products (herbal medicinal products, food, food supplements and cosmetics) are its areas of work. The company consists of a modern laboratory and service centre, with about 180 employees. PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG does not produce or sell own products. Please, see also www.phytolab.com. Within the PlantLIBRA EC project, PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG is Beneficiary number 13 of the PlantLIBRA Consortium, as well as a partner of what constitutes “Work Package 1 (WP1)” (www.plantlibra.eu), having performed the same tasks and activities as the other 5 partners involved in the WP1 PlantLIBRA PFS Consumer Survey (i.e. the institutions included as the affiliations of the submitted article). Their key contributions to PlantLIBRA are as follows: analysis of contaminants, analysis of secondary compounds, safety/efficacy assessment, and regulatory affairs. Within WP1, their key contribution to the Survey work was their expertise in PFS botanical composition (together with the University of Milan), which became essential during the survey data reviewing process”. In addition, the authors, in particular Angela Marculescu, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania, declare the following funding received from the PFS industry in the last 3 years: 1) SC Hofigal Export-Import SA sponsored the 2012 conference BIOATLAS in Brasov, covering costs of products for advertising and travel and accommodation costs of Prof. Gilles Bedoux from Franta (University Bretagne Sud), to attend this conference; 2) Some other Romanian companies such as Hofigal, DaciaPlant, Fares Orastie, Paradisul Verde were sponsors of the Romanian Society of Etnofarmacology, where Angela Marculescu is the President. However, neither of these companies has influenced either the design of the survey, its implementation or the writing of the present article. Moreover, the organization of the BIOATLAS conference had no relationship with the PlantLIBRA Project, and neither did the participation of the sponsored speaker. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. The above does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Wrote the paper: AGA BE MMR. Responsible for the survey: LSM. Coordination of the survey: AGA. Study design: LSM LRB VK AGA BE SDK LD FMM MS MMR MB FB. Material elaboration: AGA VK BE SDK LD FMM MS LRB MMR EMM MB FB. Data reviewing/handling/cleaning: AGA BE LD FMM MI LRB SDK EMM MB FB MS CH AM LU. Data analysis strategy: LRB LSM AGA RMV BE MMR SDK LD FMM MI EMM MB FB MS CH AM LU. Data handling and analysis: RMV LRB AGA. Drafts reviews: AGA LRB EMM SDK LD FMM BE MMR MB AM VK LU MS PR LSM. Manuscript coordination: AGA.