BOULDER, Colo. – CannaInsider, a company that provides product reviews and hosts a popular podcast interviewing executives in the industry, may have found a way to increase quality and safety controls for CBD products.
The company has just announced a CBD Transparency Badge Program. The timing of which may be right on point as many consumers are wondering what exactly is in the CBD products they are purchasing. Although most brands seem to take safety seriously, it only takes a few bad actors to hurt the reputation of the entire CBD industry.
“Trust is essential in this blossoming industry,”CannaInsider founder Matthew Kind said in a release. “The vast majority of CBD companies do the right thing, and test extensively to ensure consumer safety and health. We feel it’s time that the industry’s many good actors take advantage of an easy way to show the world that they fully stand behind their products.”
Since the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (farm bill) was passed in December, removing hemp and its derivatives (including CBD) from the federal list of controlled substances, producers have been eagerly awaiting detailed regulations. So far, the FDA has announced only that infused edibles are not in compliance with federal law, but beyond that, the industry is still relatively in the dark. It seems more and more companies are entering the industry and analysts also predict tremendous growth in the number of CBD consumers over the course of the next few years.
The time for a defined regulatory structure to protect CBD consumers is long overdue, and CannaInsiders is not simply waiting around for federal agencies to make recommendations. The transparency program will allow and encourage CBD brands to take their own initiative when it comes to ensuring product safety. Producers will have the opportunity to upload lab results from their products. Once verified, brands will receive a transparency badge and can display it on their website, social media, and product packaging. This will allow customers to know that a product has been verified by multiple parties.
According to CannaInsiders, its testing criteria includes:
- Microbial contaminant testing
- Potency testing
- Terpene profile results
- Residual solvents testing
- Pesticides, heavy metals, and mycotoxin testing
- Declaration of country where hemp was grown
By 2021, CannaInsiders will add additional criteria including glyphosate testing and environmental impact categories that will score products based on energy usage, chemical usage, and sustainable farming practices.
Diane Czarkowski, co-founder at Canna Advisors and a founding member of the National Cannabis Industry Association, supports the transparency program.
“So much of the industrial hemp produced oil that is in the marketplace is unsafe,” Czarkowski told CannaInsider. “It contains heavy metals and pesticides that could make it unsafe to use. This is a great way for businesses to distinguish themselves from others and to show customers and patients that their CBD is safe to use.”