Over the last several years of this new and fast-growing industry, you might have heard language around quality standards as it relates to the CBD industry. CNN’s Dr. Sunjay Gupta and many other medical professionals have explored the CBD industry and shared some crucial information, including how important it is that consumers educate themselves about how to identify quality CBD.
Dr. Gupta and the experts he interviewed from Consumer Reports and academic institutions suggested requesting a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from a third-party source for all CBD products you intend to consume. These tests are incredibly important because hemp is a remediation crop, meaning anything that touches the crop has the potential to appear in the final products produced from it. Consider this: if harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are used in the vicinity of hemp cultivation (like glyphosate), your CBD oil could have residual chemicals in it.
Similarly, heavy metals in the soil can end up in CBD products if the soil they’re planted in isn’t clear of heavy metals.
What’s In a Certificate of Analysis (CoA)?
When you open a CoA, you’re going to see a lot of information. Let’s start at the top:
Cannabinoids: These are the naturally occurring compounds found primarily in the flowers and leaves of the hemp plant and in hemp extracts that consumers are seeking today for their health and wellness benefits. As such, CBD is the star of the CoA. Know that a small amount of THC occurs naturally in hemp, but per the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp extracts must contain no more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis. Other cannabinoids, such as CBG, CBN, and CBC, are also in our products, and a CoA will tell you exactly how much of those are present as well.
Microbial: This test ensures that your products don’t have microbiological contamination such as salmonella, yeast, and molds.
Residual Solvents and Heavy Metals: Lead, methyl mercury, and arsenic are not listed on any ingredient panel for a reason—you don’t want to ingest them. But many hemp-derived CBD products don’t pass tests for these things because of the soil they were grown in. Consider this: hemp plants were used to help clean up the soil around Chernobyl. You wouldn’t want to consume a hemp extract from Chernobyl hemp as its job was to pull toxins out of the soil.
Pesticides: We understand that pesticides are a part of modern agriculture, but they aren’t a part of what you want to be consuming if you can avoid them. As we explained earlier, anything you spray on a hemp plant will show up in a hemp extract – from which CBD is extracted.
Please note that batch results are subject to change due to plant-by-plant variations. Sometimes, a CoA may appear to show a higher level of a particular compound than you might expect, such as THC. Fear not, for this is most likely just a measure of the compound’s presence in the entire 30- or 100-mL bottle, as opposed to an individual serving.
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