How ACS Laboratory's CBD Testing Ensures Product Quality and Compliance
Testing for CBD with ACS Laboratory gives hemp businesses, from cultivators and extractors to manufacturers and retailers, access to the most comprehensive and precise methods available. ACS’s independent third-party testing provides an objective and thorough analysis of CBD quality, purity, and potency, including in flower, vapes, edibles, beverages, and topicals. This essential step ensures that consumers stay safe, that brands comply with state and federal laws, and that trust in the entire industry improves.
This article details the importance of testing CBD with ACS Laboratory to guarantee product quality and compliance.
The Importance of Testing for CBD
CBD testing is essential because it is the most prominent cannabinoid in hemp, defined as Cannabis sativa plants containing less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight. Hemp-derived CBD products skyrocketed in popularity after the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp as a controlled substance in the United States.
Testing for CBD ensures hemp products comply with federal and state laws and helps brands understand their products’ therapeutic uses, which require strict standards for safety and reliability.
Regulatory Compliance
CBD is federally legal when derived from hemp plants that meet the legal THC potency limits. However, many states, including Florida, New York, Louisiana, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Utah, have passed regulatory programs with specific hemp testing rules that are even more comprehensive than the US Department of Agriculture’s mandates.
Testing for CBD with third-party laboratories that align with the strictest hemp testing standards gives growers and manufacturers the knowledge and support to navigate these diverse regulations.
ACS Laboratory designed its National Hemp Testing Panel to provide brands with the ultimate reassurance that their hemp products are permissible nationwide. Developing this comprehensive compliance test required intense due diligence, including:
- Researching the fine print of every state's rules for hemp sampling
- Creating elaborate matrices to compare each mandate and extracting the strictest requirements in each category
- Developing new testing methods and investing in highly sensitive instrumentations that detect the lowest possible action limits
Submitting CBD product samples to ACS Laboratory for national panel testing allows hemp growers, manufacturers, and processors to sell products confidently anywhere in the country. This test significantly reduces liability risks and expands market opportunities.
Commitment to Consumer Safety
Testing for CBD is also critical to protect consumers, who increasingly rely on hemp-derived products like CBD oils, hemp flower, and tinctures for crucial health and wellness benefits. CBD products are popular for relieving symptoms of anxiety, pain, inflammation, and insomnia and treating various neurological conditions without the psychoactive effects associated with THC.
However, a lack of quality control in hemp products can lead to adverse outcomes for consumers and medical patients seeking relief, such as:
- A CBD concentration more or less than advertised on the package
- Manufacturing processes that may introduce harmful biological and chemical contaminants
- More psychoactive THC than reported
A lack of testing for CBD products can lead to unclear or misleading labels with harmful consumer safety outcomes, including:
- Failing drug tests caused by unintended THC consumption, which can affect current or prospective employment
- Producing inaccurate medical test results
- Unintended and potentially adverse drug interactions and side effects
Hemp flower safety issues
Cannabis is also a bioaccumulator, meaning it efficiently extracts nutrients from the soil and concentrates them in its stems and leaves. Unfortunately, this also applies to harmful compounds from the soil, such as heavy metals, pesticides, and microorganisms like fungi and mold. A report on CBD tinctures showed impurities can pass through safety screening and reach consumers through the droppers, which contained elevated lead levels due to contaminated ink. Without sufficient testing for CBD, brands can sell products with potentially dangerous side effects, like poisoning, speech and language problems, and allergic and respiratory problems.
ACS Laboratory goes beyond traditional standards when testing for CBD. In addition to cannabinoid content, its National Hemp Panel focuses on consumer safety by analyzing::
- Over 100 pesticides
- 4 heavy metals, following United States Pharmacopeia (USP) guidelines
- 67 residual solvents
- Microorganisms
- Mycotoxin contaminants
- Moisture and water sensitivity that can cause fungi, mold, and bacteria
Build Consumer Trust
Unfortunately, the CBD industry today is mostly federally unregulated, making it common for companies to refrain from investing in full-panel safety tests. However, third-party testing for CBD is the only way to build consumer trust.
- In an FDA study, fewer than half of hemp products contained the reported amount of CBD, varying from 20% to more than 120% of what the label said. About half the products also contained unreported THC.
- A recent federal lawsuit showed that CBD products failed laboratory testing for heavy metals, including copper, nickel, lead, and yeast and mold content.
- In another survey, most CBD products (74%) had a different CBD amount than indicated on the label, with dangerous heavy metals, residual solvents, and pesticides also detected.
An industry impeded by false advertising will hurt all producers in the long run. Accredited labs like ACS Laboratory validate the results of CBD testing in an official report called a certificate of analysis (COA) that consumers can review. Buyers are more likely to prioritize products with third-party lab tests published publicly and remain loyal to those brands.
Certified Safe Seals by ACS Laboratory
ACS Laboratory’s Certified Safe Seals take trust to the next level. These seals validate rigorous testing for contaminants and potency, assuring consumers that the products meet the highest standards of quality and safety. Displaying these seals helps brands distinguish themselves and instill confidence in buyers.
How ACS Laboratory Ensures Accurate Testing for CBD
ACS Laboratory offers the most comprehensive and precise analytical testing services for clients in the hemp business. It has received 82 Emerald Badges for accuracy in potency and purity (more rewards than any other lab in the USA). In addition, brands can trust ACS to test the widest variety of CBD products, from oils and tinctures to edibles and beverages.
Comprehensive Testing Panels
ACS Laboratory offers the most thorough product evaluation possible when testing for CBD, Brands can choose from myriad test options, including:
Full-spectrum cannabinoid profiling: Reporting the levels of THC and CBD is often a state or federal requirement for legal sales. However, ACS can test for over 30 cannabinoids in products, allowing buyers to understand effects based on all the compounds.
Terpene analysis: Terpenes are essential oils in CBD products that affect aroma and taste. Knowing the levels of these vital compounds allows manufacturers to differentiate their products and better market them.
Shelf life and stability testing: Exposure to air, light, and heat can decrease the potency and efficiency of CBD products such as oil, edibles, and tinctures. Shelf life and stability testing show how environmental conditions affect CBD products, preventing issues with contamination, color, odor, and moisture.
Contaminant screenings: Testing for pesticides, heavy metals, and residual solvents ensures safety and purity in CBD products. Early tests for moisture content and water activity in hemp plants can detect potentially harmful mold and bacteria.
CBDA testing: CBDA is the acidic precursor to CBD and will transform into CBD due to heat, light, and oxygen. Looking for this cannabinoid when testing for CBD is essential because it impacts a final product’s total CBD content.
Advanced Testing Capabilities
The state-of-the-art technology and methods that ACS utilizes when testing for CBD ensure dependable results and compliance with industry standards, including:
- High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), a very sensitive device that can analyze individual chemical components at even trace concentrations.
- Flash-freezing and pulverizing food products with a cryogenic grinder when testing CBD edibles, a method known to provide the most consistent results .
- Matrix-specific validation in beverage testing for rapidly growing HDLT market. (Hemp Derived Legal THC).
- Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) equipment to detect residual solvent chemicals like butane, propane, and ethanol used in manufacturing extract-based CBD products, like concentrates, tinctures, and oils.
- ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry), the gold testing standard in detecting dangerous heavy metals.
Product-Specific Testing
Testing for CBD products comes in many forms. ACS Laboratory tailors its testing approach to the product on hand, using customized methods for smokable flower, vapes, tinctures, baked goods, candies, beverages, topicals and transdermals. Testing methods for various CBD products that provide the most consistent, reliable results include:
- Concentrates and topicals testing utilizing Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with UV wavelength detectors to safely measure delicate cannabinoid samples at room temperature without heat.
- Edibles testing by flash-freezing and pulverizing the sample with a cryogenic grinder to homogenize it.
- Beverage testing that can detect fine CBD and other cannabinoid particles finely emulsified into drinks, such as water and coffee.
- Transdermal patch testing that determines consistent CBD concentration for proper dosing control and bioavailability
The Bottom Line
Testing for CBD is essential for brands to deliver safe, high-quality products that consumers can depend on for reliable therapeutic effects. Rigorous tests also reduce consumer health risks and the possibility of costly penalties and recalls for compliance failures. In an industry with increasing competition, testing for CBD will make a brand more trustworthy, and consumers will be more likely to buy its products.
ACS Laboratory launched its National Hemp Testing Panel to drive the CBD industry forward, enabling products to pass the most stringent state and federal standards in every category. Brands looking to stay on top of safety and quality standards can contact ACS Laboratory today about options when testing for CBD in their products.
.png)
.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
