Lab Testing… Much Needed, Often Done Wrong, and mostly BS - a podcast by Soil To The Oil Media
from 2021-06-23T18:41:58
The BS Detector team dives in hard for episode three by tackling one of the most important but oftentimes overlooked segments of the cannabis industry: Lab Testing. Lab testing is different in every state, but a few key pieces should be universal. Labs should be truly third-party, focused on accuracy, and heavily regulated. Labs have a duty to ensure products that reach consumers are both tested for safety as well as tested for accurate information that gets to the consumers.
In this episode, Kristen and Brett start off with a breakdown of what the term “lab shopping” really means. In short… Cannabis producers will send multiple samples to different labs and choose to work with the one that tells them what they want to hear (highest THC content, Least detected contaminates). They then take a hard turn and go into the actual breakdown of why this can occur, and how. Hint: it isn’t always the fault of the lab, and it isn’t always the fault of the state regulators. Sometimes it is purely a byproduct of how labs make money and the inherent bias that may or may not come with that.
Later on, the team digs in on what labs should be testing for, and how to understand a certificate of analysis. Lab testing is about a lot more than just THC and CBD percentages, it can be about pesticides, heavy metals, and more. Brett and Kristen also get into some of the methods for testing, as well as in-house testing, and segments of the supply chain where testing is important. Testing at the beginning and end isn’t always enough, especially if your company truly cares about quality. Contaminants and issues can occur during multiple places along the production line, and testing is the best and easiest way to find potential shortcomings in a supply chain.
Key Takeaways:
- Lab Shopping is real, and you should be on the lookout for it. Notice a company using different labs every few batches? Finding a product that doesn’t hold up to what’s on the label? Those are tell-tale signs of lab shopping.
- How labs make money, and why this affects the way we as consumers see final products
- Testing is more than just for THC and CBD percentages, it is also for pesticides, heavy metals, and other contaminants.
- Testing is complicated but can be useful. Testing can be done at multiple steps of the supply chain and can be done in house as a purely quality control measures
Credits:
Audio Editing - Seth Cross - Frontal Lobe Production
Intro/Outro - Chad Bailey
Music - The Master by Flashing Lights
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