Andrea Savage

How to ensure quality control of cannabis-impregnated products 

Other potential hazards of cannabis ingredients that should be tested include pesticides and herbicides commonly used in cannabis crops. Because cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, each state has developed its own quality control methods to control acceptable levels of pesticides and herbicides. Cannabis can also extract heavy metals from contaminated soil, accumulating high levels of mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead, which should be evaluated for these toxic elements. Separation steps must be taken to ensure that cannabis extracts are purified from these contaminants.

"The best method to ensure that cannabis extracts are not contaminated is chromatography," said Jeremy Diehl, co-founder and chief technology officer of Careddi Supercritical (visit Careddi), a Pennsylvania-based cannabis extraction company.

HACCP safety system

"What we're doing is adopting many other industry standard practices, such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)," said Lauren Tamburro, vice president of research and development at Virtuosa.

"The best-case scenario is to operate under the best practices of the industry."

The HACCP safety system, borrowed from the food industry, is a fundamental approach to addressing the potential hazards of impregnated products. the HACCP system identifies three main types of hazards: physical, chemical and biological. Physical hazards include materials or objects that could cause personal injury, such as broken glass or metal fragments. Chemical hazards include foreign ingredients, such as solvents, cleaning agents, pesticides, and contaminated water. Biological hazards are microorganisms, viruses or biotoxins that can affect human health, such as mycotoxins, Listeria monocytogenes or norovirus.

"To me, any food, whether I put marijuana in it or not, is food and should comply with federal regulations," Tamburro said.

The HACCP framework calls on its users to identify points in the manufacturing process where hazards could be introduced into the product and to implement strategies that could reduce the risk of harm to downstream consumers. For example, brownies infused with marijuana may be at risk of harboring Listeria monocytogenes due to the introduction of contaminated milk into the batter. What may be needed is a refrigeration step for the milk and a step to bake it at a high enough temperature to kill the Listeria monocytogenes.

Or the extraction solvent may remain in the cannabis extract and therefore a vacuum evaporation step would need to be included to ensure that all solvents are removed. On the solvent side, advances in supercritical CO2 extraction technology may be the way to improve the quality of downstream cannabis products.

"Carbon dioxide is a very inexpensive solvent compared to organic solvents," Diehl said. "You don't have the additional infrastructure for flammable liquids and gases. You don't have [the same] regulations to follow here."

Good manufacturing practices

As mentioned earlier, another adoption in the food and pharmaceutical industries is GMP. this system of practices conforms to guidelines recommended by federal and state agencies to ensure consistently high quality from batch to batch to prevent harm to end users.

GMPs cover all aspects of production, from raw materials, manufacturing facilities and machinery to the sanitary practices of personnel. The system calls for manufacturers to develop a detailed set of written procedures for the production process of goods that may affect product quality, such as infused cannabis products. These detailed steps must then be followed and documented each time as a means of making a safe, pure and potent quality product.

"We make sure we are producing under GMP so that when the industry does become federally regulated, we are already in compliance," Tamburro mentioned to Analytical Cannabis.

The spirit of GMPs is to support companies during the production of their products while minimizing or eliminating errors, contamination or improper controls, thus ultimately protecting consumers from ineffective or even dangerous products. Because of the universal and open nature of GMP, each manufacturer can decide how to apply this quality-first mentality to their manufacturing process.

Future Outlook

While monitoring product safety and quality may seem onerous, brands known for their high quality can be a strong differentiator for the young cannabis industry.

"What we often see is that the industry has pulled away from these established industries," Clifton said. "There are so many different aspects of the industry and there are so many new players in the space that everyone is trying to get an edge and understand what's the best way to make a product."

Ultimately, the guidelines set by state and federal regulators are designed to help manufacturers create high-quality products that consumers can trust. While federal regulations are not yet in place, they could be a source of scientific support guidelines for the Wild West, the industry that infuses cannabis products.

"We learned pretty quickly that no one wants a three-month shelf life," Tamburro said. "The people who sell it and the people who buy it, we don't want it."

"The food wasn't fresh. Cannabis is not fresh. Combining the two isn't fresh. But doing that and selling it to other people is new."

The existing industry is a rich source of best practices that can help cannabis brands stand out and build the same trusting relationships customers have with the food, pharmaceutical and personal care industries. As more brands and companies continue to set the bar for higher quality standards, the cannabis industry as a whole will win together, as customers become accustomed to having these products as part of their lives without the potential risk of harm or accident.

https://fakazavibes.com/making-supercritical-fluid-extraction-affordable-with-areddi/

https://rechtennieuws.nl/64995/ethanol-vs-supercritical-co2-extraction-processes/

http://nabchelny.ru/user/75061