It might come as a surprise to you, but the FDA does not regulate any cannabis products. Regardless if they are crafted with hemp-derived cannabinoids or straight weed, there’s very little regulation involved in the creation of cannabis-infused consumables. The law seems to be more concerned about the actual THC content and the classification of cannabinoids rather than the creation methods of the actual products, but that could change rapidly. Many companies offer lab testing for their products, but unless you’re familiar with how to read them, the mere presence of lab tests might be enough to earn your trust. In this article, I’ll be going over several key points of why lab testing is important, what to look for in testing, and how to confirm if the test is legitimate.
Lab Testing: What’s The Point?
In 2018, former President Donald Trump passed the Agricultural Act, often referred to as the 2018 Farm Bill. A seemingly insignificant clause in this bill stated that as long as hemp and its compounds contained 0.3% THC or less, they would be considered legal on a federal level. This unique wording opened up the floodgates for psychoactive cannabinoids such as Delta-8 THC, HHC, THC-O, and countless others. There are over 100 known cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant and quite a few of them are able to deliver a high that is not only potent but legal! The marketplace became inundated with brands that sought to make their ways off the shelves and into your carts. With all these brands and products clamoring for your attention, some brands discovered a unique way to garner trust with their consumers. If you guessed lab testing, you get a gold star! Lab testing offered a way to confirm the product’s potency and purity as well as ensure that the THC levels remained at 0.3% or lower.
Does It Matter What Kind Of Lab Tests The Products?
Many cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC, HHC, and THC-O require extensive chemical extraction and processing to make them viable. This usually requires scientific knowledge and experience, not to mention a state-of-the-art facility to work in. There are several brands that conduct lab tests in the same facility that the product was made in. As a consumer, you might not see anything wrong with this scenario. If you have the equipment and the know-how, why wouldn’t you conduct the test yourself? Here’s why: testing products in the same facility they were created in leaves room for error and bias. It would be easy to slightly fudge the numbers or edit that decimal number ever so slightly, and who would know?
To combat this issue, companies have embraced the idea of sending out their products to unaffiliated labs for testing. These unaffiliated labs are called independent third-parties; the testing done by these unaffiliated labs allows the results to be free from bias. The independent third-party labs are compensated only for their time, NOT their results. Once the testing is complete, the results are put together in what is known as a Certificate of Authority, or CoA for short. The company requesting the testing can choose to provide these results in PDF form on the company website, paper form inside the product packaging, or in digital form as a QR code directly on the product’s label. Since these tests are expensive, many brands choose to only furnish the results upon request or have users scan the QR code. The latter forces you to have the product in hand before you can scan it, meaning you’ll have to have some level of trust to purchase the product online or scan it while in a brick-and-mortar store.
Buyer Beware: Some Lab Tests Are Not What They Seem
Lab testing, especially by third-party independent labs, is quite costly. These tests are very expensive to conduct and often take an extended period of time to get back. If you see lab testing CoAs listed on a company website, chances are the company is eager to display the successful testing of their products that took time and money spent to obtain. Yet not all lab tests are genuine. Many unscrupulous brands will download the results of a verified lab report and doctor the results to reflect their own products. This will effectively fool the customer into thinking that the lab results are genuine and thus safe to consume. Unfortunately, pilfered lab results are a widespread problem and difficult to catch just by looking at them. The only way to confirm if the lab test in question is genuine is to contact the lab listed on the lab results. By providing the batch number, product name, and other relevant information, you can confirm that the results are accurate for the product in question. This requires extra work on the consumer’s part and while unfortunate, sometimes it’s necessary to ensure you aren’t fooled by an unethical company.
Does Erth Hemp Offer Lab Testing?
Here at Erth Hemp, we value transparency and purity above all else. Each of our products have been tested by labs who offer specialized testing for the cannabinoid in question. For example, many labs are not able to test the newer cannabinoids like HHC and THC-O. We scoured the industry until we found labs that were able to accurately test the cannabinoids we carry to ensure our customers receive nothing but the best. The lab results of our products are conveniently listed on the product page, as well as links to other flavors in that category. To view these lab results, simply scroll down the product page until you find a hyperlink that says “Lab Results.” Clicking on that link will reload the page to display the results from our trusted independent third-party labs. You can view the date that the testing was completed, a summary of all cannabinoids that are present, and much more. These lab results are also listed on our product packaging in convenient QR code. Simply aim your smartphone’s camera at the QR code and you’ll be redirected to the uploaded results in a matter of seconds. If you have questions on how to read these results, we’ve included several FAQ’s in the lab result to help make your life just a bit easier.
Conclusion
By now you should have a much better understanding of why independent lab test results are so important. Not only do they build consumer trust and confidence, but it keeps the company accountable for its claims. Potency, purity, and total THC content are all extremely important when it comes to consuming a psychoactive cannabinoid. While these tests are time-consuming and expensive, they are necessary to ensure our customers are getting exactly what they’re looking for. Many companies do not feel the same way and are content to steal other brand’s hard work by intentionally doctoring the results to reflect better on them. If at any point you feel suspicious about a brand’s CoA, you can always contact the lab listed on the report and verify the information by giving the batch number, product name, etc.
While this is an unfortunate practice, you can rest assured that Erth Hemp offers premium products that have been tested thoroughly to give you the best experience possible. We understand that by using independent third-party labs, the results of these tests are accurate and free of bias. Whether it be common cannabinoids like Delta-8 THC and Farm Bill Compliant Delta-9 THC or newer psychoactive compounds like HHC and THC-O, our quest for perfection knows no bounds!
Feel free to browse our catalog for your perfect product and take comfort in knowing that these products have been tested to help you buy with confidence. If you have any questions about anything mentioned in this article or about lab testing in general, feel free to reach out to us! We’re eager to share our knowledge of the hemp-derived cannabinoid industry and would love to make your acquaintance. If you’ve had the opportunity to try our products, whether it be full-sized or sample-sized, please share your experiences in the comments below. We look forward to hearing from you!
