CBD Lab Reports And Why They Are Important
The instant growth of the CBD industry and the lack of regulations has sullied the market with cheap and low-quality products sourced overseas or from biomass facilities sourcing from hundreds of farms. Many brands are artificially inflating or flat out lying about the CBD content in their products.
Additionally, certain CBD products have quality products slapped on their labels despite being cheap and contaminated with harmful ingredients. As consumers, you need to be careful when shopping for CBD oil to ensure your short and long term safety.
Thankfully, third-party lab testing became an industry-standard for quality CBD and reputable brands that makes it easier to discern who to trust. Third-party UKAS accredited CBD lab reports show the contents of the CBD oil being sold. This allows consumers to be fully aware that the product does not contain any dangerous substance.
It’s performed by independent laboratories who do not benefit from the manufacturers’ sales, so consumers can confirm that these reports are reliable.
Third-party CBD lab reports are simple and straightforward to read if you know the compounds to find. Let’s go over several elements of a lab report that you ought to know when going through these documents.
Cannabinoid Profile
The cannabinoid profile is a critical aspect of this report as they provide the benefits that people pursue. Third-party CBD lab reports determine the legitimacy of the level of the following cannabinoids and the potency of the product.
Additionally, the test determines if you are truly getting the right product. Hemp-derived CBD oil can come in three final forms. All of which contain different variations of Cannabinoids. It’s up to the consumer to look at the tests and determine what they need.
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- Isolates: Also known as pure CBD. As the name suggests, CBD isolate contains no compound other than CBD.
- Broad spectrum: A broad-spectrum product will show a lab report that includes multiple types of cannabinoids without tracing any levels of THC.
- Full spectrum: They come with a wide range of cannabinoids, including THC and terpenes. However, the THC levels need to be below the legal limit.
Note that many reports won’t give a complete list of the full cannabinoid profile for a full-spectrum CBD. CBD lab reports that lacks a few cannabinoids doesn’t necessarily mean that the manufacturing company is guilty of mislabelling.
It just means that the report focused on the major cannabinoids often has the highest content found in cannabis plants.
Let’s breakdown the cannabinoids that should be present in your CBD oil products:
Cannabidiol (CBD)
CBD content is the first and most important thing to look for in the CBD itself. You need to pay attention to the strength and content. Each person has a different build, so what works for one person might fail to deliver the desired effects for another.
Products need to have the same amount of CBD indicated on their product label. However, some brands might not contain the CBD levels as advertised. As a result, users might not get their desired results by not getting the amount they expect.
Third-party CBD lab reports are a perfect way to verify the actual CBD content. As consumers, you need to be fully aware of the products you’re purchasing. You can find it through lab results reports, which lists its strength and content in mg/g or percentage. A more potent oil means a stronger oil.
THC Content
Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is the cannabinoid responsible for the psychotropic effects of cannabis use. THC stimulates the brain cells to release dopamine and cause euphoria or the high associated with cannabis.
The Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971 forbids CBD oil containing more than 1mg of THC, regardless of the container size. This is likely to be overhauled, as having a limit set by the amount and not the concentration of controlled substances presents challenges for both the regulators and CBD industry.
Other Cannabinoids
The profile also presents other cannabinoids found in the product, including CBC, THC, THCA, CBG, CBDA, and CBN. The following section details the levels of various cannabinoids that are naturally present in your CBD oil.
Terpenes Profile
Secondary to cannabinoids, terpenes play a significant role in the entourage effect. Terpenes are organic compounds found responsible for their aromatic and flavour diversity. They work similarly to cannabinoids as they bind to receptors in the brain and cause various effects.
When checking CBD lab reports, it’s preferable to find a diverse number of terpenes in your CBD oil and at a higher level.
Each product contains different terpene profiles depending on the strain of the hemp plant. The extraction process also plays a factor. For instance, the CO2 extraction method can lessen the number of terpenes. Fortunately, it doesn’t always lose any of the beneficial terpenes.
Heavy Metals
On Earth, we get exposed to heavy metals through the food and water we consume daily, and even the air we breathe due to erosion and weathering.
Fortunately, it’s harmless to consume small amounts of heavy metals such as copper, zinc, iron, manganese, and chromium. On the other hand, industrial and agricultural pollution made it possible for high concentrations of dangerous metals to enter crops.
Hemp can soak up anything and everything in the soil. As such, these plants are often grown to clean out polluted lands by drawing out toxins from the ground caused by heavy metals, pesticides, oil spills, and others. As the plants get harvested, the soil becomes free of contaminants.
However, this makes it dangerous for users of cannabis-based products as exposure to heavy metals can cause serious health risks, especially those with a prior medical condition.
Third-party laboratories test for heavy metal, so be very wary of a supplier that isn’t upfront with you about heavy metals.
Contaminants and Toxins
Toxic Agents or Additives
Products should be free from synthetic chemicals if you are looking to maximize their benefits. Chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, or fertilizers, have aided farmers in increasing crop production for a long time.
Including insecticides and herbicides, serves as protection against pests that may destroy crops. Meanwhile, fertilizers increase the crops’ nutrients in adverse weather conditions or during times when plants need additional nutrients.
Excessive usage of fertilizers and pesticides is a detrimental effect on the environment. They can harm both air and water quality as well as kill wildlife. They have also found to be harmful to people’s health.
Fertilizers and pesticides remain on crops like hemp and reach those who consume the plant or its extracts. Its’ been linked to causing a range of effects like nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and headaches, to more lasting impacts like endocrine disruption, reproductive harm, and cancer.
In the first place, hemp is different from most crops as it does not require any additional help to grow. It requires little attention from farmers once the crop gets planted due to its incredible resilience and fast-growing properties.
Hemp also has fewer pests. A report published by the Journal of the Hemp Association showed that nearly 300 insect pests residing in hemp and cannabis, but hardly any of them cause economic crop losses.
You don’t want to see any pesticides or any chemical pesticides or fertilizers to show up in the third laboratory report. Pesticides may show in trace amounts in all plants due to trace amounts of pesticides in water or water runoff from other farms. Still, the numbers in each sample should be incredibly small.
Microbes
Microbes are living organisms that exist everywhere in nature. The human body is home to microbes of different species, though a lot of them aren’t dangerous. Many organisms serve as protection from becoming infected with harmful microbes.
Not all microbes can benefit your health. A few species of these single-cell organisms can invade a person’s body and cause infectious diseases like flu and measles.
Microbes need to enter the body to cause an infection, and one of their point of entry is through ingestion. Many of the things you consume in your everyday life use microorganisms for fermentation, but other microbes can make you ill. CBD oil is among the consumable products that can become contaminated.
Plants can become contaminated during growth or storage by microorganisms such as mould, mildew, bacteria, and yeast. Consuming such products can cause detrimental effects in the body through active infection or as a result of toxin production.
Thorough testing can verify that the CBD oil is free of any contamination from heavy metal. Any company that doesn’t present any reports should be avoided at all costs.
Chemical Solvents
Chemical solvents and other cannabinoids go through a process called extraction to turn to products sold in the market. There are several methods to extract CBD, but the use of chemical solvents is among the least expensive option. It’s also fast and easy to do.
Solvent extraction may be an ideal process but is most dangerous for users. These chemicals must be eliminated during the evaporation step. But, traces of solvents get left behind in the final product despite a manufacturer’s efforts to remove them.
Regarding the levels and method of consumption, a certain amount of solvent residue can eventually pose a health risk to the users. Therefore, testing for these chemicals is necessary when it comes to this product. Stay away from products with reports that detect potentially dangerous levels of residual solvents.
CBD lab reports from an independent UKAS accredited lab can detect levels of potentially dangerous residual solvents. Stay far away from products with solvents such as propane, hexane, pentane, and butane.
When you’re purchasing CBD oil, never settle for a company that only believes in the quality of their product. They should also be willing to back it up with certified testing. Get your money’s worth by finding a reputable CBD brand like Love CBD.
Love CBD is a small family-run CBD shop that offers high-quality cannabis oil, establishing a leading brand for CBD capsules, balm, and CBD sprays in the UK. Visit us at www.lovecbd.org or contact us at [email protected].
All of our CBD lab reports are undertaken by Eurofins who are UKAS accredited and one only a few companies with a recognised Cannabinoid accreditation.
We hope that you found our CBD lab reports blog helpful. To read other blogs about similar issues to our CBD lab reports article, please click the link.
