Lab Test Catalog and Display

Compliance and Quality Assurance

It’s your “Quality Assurance” stamp that proves your product is clean and pure, with accurate dosing and labeling.

The public availability of lab results for CBD products is the single largest differentiator between CBD and other supplements. In most industries, resellers or customers do not expect to see lab results or Certificates of Authenticity (COA). In the CBD industry, the sheer volume of dishonest vendors who create products with low quality CBD or none at all, mold, chemical solvents and inaccurate label claims has forced third party lab results to become a necessity. If you’re interested in learning more about CBD lab tests, how they’re performed, and what they’re required for, read on.

CBD Lab Testing and The Law

Lab Testing was not legally required in the early days of the CBD industry. There were legitimate CBD companies selling real CBD products, but there were also CBD manufacturers who put hempseed oil in bottles and called it “CBD”. Unfortunately, plenty of them still exist on Amazon. To combat this fraud, legitimate CBD brands began employing third party laboratories to verify that their products contained actual CBD and ensured accurate dosage claims on the packaging.

In the interest of maintaining transparency for CBD manufacturers and ensuring consumer safety, CBD Lab testing requirements would later become law in many states. It’s worth noting that in order for a supplement like CBD to be FDA and GMP compliant, this material testing has always been required.

By 2019, more than half of the US states enacted legislation requiring CBD lab testing. Within the last 2 years, these requirements have become nearly universal. The laws specify that CBD and CBD products must undergo testing at state-approved, ISO-17025 certified labs.

The ISO-17025 certification is awarded by the International Organization for Standardization, an independent and respected auditing group. The 17025 certification in particular applies to “Testing and Calibration Laboratories”. Its purpose is to ensure a laboratory can operate competently and generate results that are consistent from batch to batch.

CBD Lab Testing is an opportunity for you to prove that your products are of the highest quality standards while remaining true to your branding.

Types of Lab Tests

The specific lab tests that need to be performed can vary by state – maybe even county or city if the compliance officers force the requirements. Some states require tests that measure for heavy metals and microbiological contamination, whereas others leave the minimum requirement at cannabinoid testing (CBD levels). Nearly all reputable labs use some version of HPLC – High Performance Liquid Chromatography – for their testing procedures. This technique is widely agreed to be the most accurate for testing cannabinoid products.

Here are the most common lab tests in our industry:

• Cannabinoid testing: assesses the concentrations of CBD as well asTHC and secondary compounds like CBG, and CBN. CBD products must contain less than 0.3% THC by weight under federal law.
• Terpene testing: Assesses the presence of terpenes like limonene, linalool, and caryophyllene. These are the compounds that make each cannabis cultivar unique by creating its unforgettable scent.
• Residual Solvents (VOC) testing: This test searches for the solvents – otherwise known as Volatile Organic Compounds – used in most extractions. It identifies clean versus contaminated extracts.
• Mycotoxin testing: These are naturally occurring toxins that can be created by mold which has contaminated food. The presence of unsafe mycotoxin indicates contaminated materials and is grounds for disposing of a product.
• Heavy Metals: This includes metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic that hemp could absorb while growing.
• Pathogens/Microbiology: This test searches for bacteria, yeast, mold, E. coli, and Salmonella, all classic food contaminants.
• Pesticides: This test confirms the validity of organic growing claims by searching for a range of common pesticides.

Raw Materials Testing

Most states’ hemp laws do not explicitly require any sort of raw material testing when it comes to your ingredients. However, they often do require these tests be performed on the hemp crop itself before and at harvest time.

Any GMP compliant manufacturer is obligated to perform identity and contaminant testing on their raw materials prior to allowing them into production. This is an extra level of diligence and safety that you can’t expect from any manufacturer lacking their GMP certification.

Our COA/Batch Tracking System

We take a batch number, test number of other common identifier on your COA and can apply to every product that contains that batch of ingredients. These results can be available directly on your website product pages, allowing your customers or compliance officers to match the bottle in their hands to the accurate result. This traceability leads to increased peace of mind for your clients, and less redundant document hunting for your team.

Each certificate also includes a QR code, so that your clients can scan it and view the master copy of the result directly on the lab’s website. We can integrate that QR code to your system/website. Many states now require product labels to have a QR code linking to lab results as well. We can get it all integrated and streamlined.