With the increased legalization of cannabis happening nowadays, it's not surprising that the market is being flooded with cannabidiol (CBD) products in even more varieties.
Given this, it's only natural to be concerned about the content of the hemp and CBD products that you're consuming. For the uninitiated consumer, it's important to know the potency of what you are consuming or if those products even contain CBD at all.
The Current State of CBD Product Regulation
Any seller or manufacturer can label their products as they wish. Even with regulations in product marketing and the CBD industry as a whole, a lot of companies can still find ways to overhype their products without getting into trouble. Currently, CBD oil and other hemp-derived products only have fewer restrictions or requirements, which can lead to inconsistencies in labeling practices.
It's really up to you, the consumer, to make sure that you are getting legitimate products that you paid for.
This is why third-party CBD lab testing is so important right now. Lab testing for hemp CBD products not only reveals cannabinoid content, but it also helps you understand how pure a product is or if there are toxic ingredients such as pesticides and heavy metals.
Also, it's not just a matter of educating yourself on the products that you're taking or planning to buy, but also understanding who is doing the testing and how. Lastly, you also need to learn how to read and understand the results of the lab testing.
The Importance of Testing CBD Products
Cannabinoids are either psychoactive or non-psychoactive and the latter is the primary therapeutic cannabinoid of interest. CBD from industrial hemp should contain less than 0.3% THC in order to be excluded from Schedule 1 classification, which is given to illegal substances and those with high potential for abuse.
Food, drug, and personal care products that contain cannabis CBD are subject to FDA regulations. This means these products should go through appropriate hemp testing or potency tests in order to be approved for the market.
How Lab Testing Services Add Value to an Industrial Hemp Business
CBD testing can be done in-house or via a third-party lab. Bigger manufacturers have their own lab where they can test their products and ingredients. Ideally, these laboratories should be FDA-authorized and use medical-grade equipment and procedures.
For customers who want a fair assessment, they may opt for third-party laboratories, which can verify the claims of a manufacturer independently. The best third-party labs are those with ISO 17025 certification.
It should also be emphasized that hemp testing is beneficial not just for legalities, but also because the data adds value to a CBD-based business. Getting products tested verifies safety and potency content and also helps industrial hemp industry manufacturers in maintaining the quality and consistency of their cannabis products.
The Process of Testing a CBD Product
The test uses the hemp extract from a product as the base and the data produced is based on the contents of that extract. Testing can be done on the extract before other ingredients are added. This makes THC levels and CBD measurements more accurate as compared to an extract that already has additional ingredients in since these can mask the view of the hemp's trace compounds.
Cannabinoids are the first thing to be looked for when it comes to lab testing CBD. There should be a total of 11 when sampling the extract. The two main ones are CBD and THC, which appear in industrial hemp in bigger quantities. The rest of the hemp testing looks for the other nine.
Once these are analyzed, the contents are expressed in milligrams per unit. When it comes to liquids, such as CBD oil and tinctures, the measurements are done in mg/ml. But once the product has been packaged, the measurement is expressed by its quantity for the entire product.
Lab hemp testing also analyzes other compounds, such as terpenes and chlorophyll. This should also reveal if a product contains chemicals or dangerous components such as pesticides and unhealthy amounts of heavy metals.
How to Read CBD Lab Reports
Cannabinoids profile is the first thing you should look at when reading a lab test result. The results will depend on the type of CBD product that went through testing. If the product's label says that it's a full-spectrum product, it should have CBD, the appropriate THC levels and THC content, and some lesser-known cannabinoids. If it contains only one of these extracts and yet claims to be a full-spectrum product, then something is not right.
For broad-spectrum industrial hemp CBD, results should reveal all other cannabinoids and compounds, save for THC. For CBD isolates, it should contain only CBD and nothing else. If you see any discrepancy between the lab report and the manufacturer's claims, then there is something amiss.
Full and broad-spectrum hemp CBD should also contain some terpenes, while isolate should have zero terpenes in the results.
The test also screens for heavy metals to show the levels of arsenic, mercury, lead cadmium, and other metals. A product may contain some or all of the metals, but it's alright as long as the amount is within healthy levels. Of course, the report will also indicate whether the levels are acceptable or not.
Other results that can be seen in lab testing are:
- Microbiology screening for harmful microbes such as salmonella and e-coli
- Mycotoxin screening for fungi contaminants such as ochratoxin and aflatoxins
- Pesticides and solvent residue pesticides should be within acceptable limits
Getting Your CBD Product from a Trusted Source
The importance of hemp testing for CBD products can't be emphasized enough since it gives the consumer the assurance that he is using a product that is safe and worth what he paid for.
ERTH Hemp is a quality-conscious company, which means we pride ourselves on running thorough lab tests to ensure that our cannabis products meet the high standards of our consumers. Your product will also come with a unique QR code that shows the active cannabinoids for your knowledge.
ERTH Hemp has a wide range of varying CBD and hemp products from topicals, CBD oil tinctures, CBD flower samples, pet products, and more! For CBD products you can trust, contact ERTH Hemp anytime via Facebook or Instagram at @ERTHHEMP or via email at support@erthhemp.com. You can also call 1-866-804-ERTH.
