Setting the Green Standard for the legal Cannabis Industry.
About Us
CertCan Labs provides product testing and quality control services to businesses within the legal cannabis industry.
It is our mission to support the rapidly growing legal cannabis businesses around the world and ensure their products’ safety, efficacy and purity. CertCan Labs provides its services to a broad spectrum of verticals across the industry from non-intoxicant products such as CBD (Cannabidiol) oils, lotions and beverages to industrial hemp farms and THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) based products such as concentrated oils, flower and edibles.
Terminology
Due to decades of stigma surrounding the Cannabis plant, there is much confusion surrounding commonly used terms like Cannabis, Hemp and Marijuana. To alleviate some of this confusion we will provide some very simplified explanations below:
- Cannabis
Cannabis
The difference between cannabis, hemp, and marijuana is easily misconstrued. Cannabis sativa L. is the genus of the plant, so it encompasses the family of both hemp and marijuana. Cannabis has become commonly used as a ‘catch-all’ term that is often used to describe everything from the non-psychoactive aspects of the hemp plant, to CBD products and even the psychoactive flowers of the cannabis plant also referred to as marijuana.
- Hemp
Hemp
According to the 2018 Farm Bill, the definition of hemp by Congress is any part of the plant itself, including seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a THC concentration of no more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis. Because of this very low concentration of THC, hemp is primarily grown for its industrial applications including: paper, clothing, building materials, biofuel, food products, oils and more.
The 2018 Farm Bill was signed into effect by the President on December 20, 2018 and separated industrial hemp from the definition of Marijuana. This effectively allows for the domestic production as well as importing of industrial Hemp plants. Because these plants must be verified to have 0.3% THC content or less, there is a large and growing demand for testing services in this vertical.
- Marijuana
Marijuana
Marijuana is a variety of the Cannabis plant that is primarily grown for its high THC content (10-40%). This plant is highly sought after for both its medicinal and its psychoactive effects. A wide variety of marijuana products have been developed ranging from basic flower which can be vaporized or smoked to edibles, concentrated oils, beverages, balms and even beer. Currently, virtually all legal markets require testing of all marijuana products across a wide spectrum of parameters before being sold to consumers.
Testing Services
CertCan Labs initial base of operations is in the State of California and thus has based its primary testing parameters around the State of California’s standards set forth by the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC). CertCan Labs battery of testing includes the following:
Potency
We qualify and quantify 11 cannabinoids to help consumers understand the potential effects that product may have, manufacturers can more accurately dose their products, and cultivators can optimize their harvests. We perform this analysis using HPLC-DAD with validated methods across all cannabis medium types.
Terpene Profile
Terpenes contribute to the taste and aroma, as well as adding an “entourage effect” towards the physiological response that cannabinoids produce within the human body. Terpene profiles are determined using HS-GC-FID (Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection and Headspace Analysis). These validated methods analyze the concentrations of 21 different terpenes within a cannabis product.
Chemical Residues
Certcan Labs utilizes the latest LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS technology for the qualification and quantification of chemical residues within cannabis samples. We offer a California compliance panel of the some of the most common and concerning chemicals. In total we test for a total of 66 pesticides, insecticides and fungicides.
Category I & II Residual Solvents
Certcan utilizes HS-GC-MS-FID for residual solvent analysis. This is a dual detection method (Flame Ionization and Mass Spectrometry) that provides additional specificity and dual confirmation of analyte presence to yield the utmost confidence of results.
Category I & II Pesticides
Toxicity categories inform users of the potential hazards associated with the use of a particular pesticide. Specific signal word(s) must appear on product labels depending on pesticide toxicity category. For example, pesticides in Toxicity Category I must carry on their label the word “Danger.” Some Category I pesticides must also display the word “Poison,” and the skull and crossbones symbol. Child warning hazard statements must appear on practically all pesticide labels.
Microbials
Microbiology testing services help minimize the risk of potential damage by microbes and to ensure the microbiology quality of your products is maintained.
Heavy Metals
The term heavy metal refers to any metallic chemical element that has a relatively high density and is toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. Examples of heavy metals include mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), thallium (Tl), and lead (Pb). “We utilize ICP-MS systems to test for “the big four” heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium in cannabis products.”
Mycotoxins
Several hundred different mycotoxins have been identified, but the most commonly observed mycotoxins that present a concern to human health and livestock include aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin, fumonisins, zearalenone and nivalenol/deoxynivalenol. Mycotoxins appear in the food chain as a result of mold infection of crops both before and after harvest.
Water Activity
The single most important property of water in agricultural systems is the water activity … It is an important property that can be used to predict the stability and safety of food with respect to microbial growth, rates of deteriorative reactions and chemical/physical properties.
Moisture Content
Moisture correction is required by the state for cannabis flower products. It is used as a way to normalize/correct for cannabinoid concentrations.
Foreign Material
Foreign material includes but is not limited to hair, insects, feces, packaging contaminants, and manufacturing waste and by-products.
Technology
Certcan Labs is committed to creating the best possible experience for our customers.
We believe that expediting the testing process and making the results as easily accessible as possible is a number one priority. CCL is currently developing an online platform that will allow our clients to access their products’ testing data in real time across the entire spectrum of tests from terpene profiles to potency reports and will even include high definition product photos.
Mobile Lab Operations
California BCC standards currently require third party testing facilities to collect their samples on-site from their customer’s facilities. This has created some serious logistical problems within the industry and has substantially limited the range of workable territory for many testing labs and increased lead-times on product testing.
Certcan Labs plans to create multiple mobile labs that will have the capability to travel to our customer’s locations, complete testing on-site, and ultimately reduce the time necessary for our clients to bring their products to market. Mobile labs also have the added benefit of driving down overhead expenditures and saving costs on both sides of the process.
Robotics & Automation
Speed, efficiency and accuracy are critical to stand out in the analytical chemistry marketplace, particularly when servicing the cannabis sector.
CertCan Laboratories intends to fully embrace the most cutting-edge technologies and create the best possible modern laboratory. One of these technologies which will help enable our success is the integration of automated robotics into our laboratory.
Contact Us
Interested in our product testing services? Give us a shout, we’d love to chat! Send us a message and let us know how we can help. Old fashion phone calls work too!
Address
Certcan Laboratories
1392 McGaw Ave.
Irvine, Ca 92614
Phone
(888) 885-3301
Social
Local
(949) 522-8889