Hemp Product Classes & Testing
Isolates usually appear clear and only contain CBD. Taking a CBD isolate is akin to taking Vitamin C, instead of eating an orange. The Entourage Effect is lost because all of the other beneficial compounds of the plant have been removed by a laboratory technique called chromatography. How or where the plant is grown is irrelevant, so often it’s farmed as inexpensively as possible.
Broad spectrum products are becoming popular and are often marketed as Full Spectrum without the THC. This is true, but what they really are is a combination of cannabinoid and terpene isolates. Anyone without training or oversight, can purchase isolates and create their own concoction. Cannabinoids do not have a lethal dose, but terpenes do. In concentration, terpenes come with a pretty scary safety data sheet (SDS). Terpenes are also added to “enhance” poor quality hemp. When terpene and/or cannabinoids are listed on the ingredients label, it means the manufacture has “enhanced” the product with an isolate. These products are potentially dangerous and should be left to regulated companies with very strict quality assurance programs.
Factory Full Spectrum appears off yellow and may have a faint cannabis smell. Anything that has not gone through the isolation process can be called full spectrum, even industrially farmed, extracted and processed hemp. Cannabinoids and terpenes are limited, if available you need to check test results, as some products are “fuller” than others. Often much of the plant's compounds have been lost.
Unprocessed Artisanal Hemp Extract - These products are smaller farms sourced from high quality flower, or “A” buds. They contain a robust profile of cannabinoids, terpenes and other phytonutrients. Plants that are naturally free of contaminants do not need processing. We follow leading practitioners and pioneers, not big business.
Testing is paramount to quality and safety, and should be performed multiple times throughout the supply chain. Cannabinoids and terpenes represent quality. Contaminants include pesticides, heavy metals, microbial, mycotoxins and in most cases solvents. Typical testing points include flower, crude, mother oil and finished products. Contamination tests should be performed at the crude/concentrated level, however very few farms’ hemp can pass at this level (& why there is so much processing).
Ensuring quality, safety and transparency in the hemp industry is for the most part as simple as defining product classes, requiring all manufactures to provide complete test results for their class at certain points within the supply chain, and within set guidelines.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://fuflunsfoods.com/blogs/news/the-supply-chain-of-hemp-and-its-impact-on-quality-and-the-environment
