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Want to know the truth about CBD testing?
The Extract and ADACT Labs have been working together to get you the facts.
It’s no secret, in fact, we’ve brought it up on this site many times over the last few months. But we’ve been working with ADACT Labs in order to get things clear for everyone.
Why are we doing this?
We want to answer some important questions for our readers, as plainly and simply as possible. Questions like, Which products have CBD? How much CBD? And perhaps most importantly, which products have mislabeled themselves.
We’re not casting judgement on any brands but simply trying to give consumers the facts. Mislabeling can occur for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is Third Party Contamination.
Why are we working with ADACT Labs?
One of the biggest problems in the CBD industry is how little is known about it. This is what creates consumer mistrust and causes knock-on effects around issues of legalisation.
We want to help consumers find trusted brands and help to promote this industry.
By publishing real, proven results we hope to do our small part in growing and maintaining a healthy CBD culture.
Consumers will feel greater confidence in products and manufacturers will work to greater standards.
For us, this starts by working with ADACT Labs to identify and promote trustworthy whitelabel brands.
The testing process
Each cannabinoid has a slightly different chemical structure, similar but different, the HPLC works by forcing the mixture through a column, a column is a tightly packed bed of very small inert beads, due to the differences in the chemical structure and hence their physical shape, the different compounds travel through the column at different speeds.
By applying constant pressure and temperature to the chemicals being forced through you can record the retention time of each chemical as it passes through.
On the other side of the column is a Detector, this gives you a signal as something comes out of the column, the more of something that comes out the stronger the signal. So by combining these two effects you can know at what time each compound comes out and from the strength of the signal how much of each compound is present, that is the basis of HPLC.
We train the CBD testing system by putting standards for each compound through the system, these standards are very high purity chemicals and allow us to calibrate the system and tighten the accuracy of our results.
Who are ADACT Medical?
ADACT Medical was founded in 2004 when Damien Bové left his corporate job in the pharmaceutical industry to start his own medical products compliance company. He wanted to assist startups and established firms with an R&D and Regulatory strategy.
In the nearly two decades, Damien and ADACT have gone from strength to strength, consulting with a huge variety of companies. Their work has encompassed fields as far removed as pharmaceuticals, Biotech, supplements, as well as alternative herbal medicines, medical devices and even cosmetics.
Now ADACT is focused on providing testing and regulatory compliance services for the CBD and Vape industries. They use their ISO 17025 certified laboratories in the UK to assist companies worldwide in getting their products to market and keeping them there.
They are directly involved in working with regulatory bodies establishing global regulations including Novel Foods notifications. In the years to come, this will be very relevant to the Hemp and CBD industry.
Their commitment is to keeping costs affordable and accessible.
Questions About The ADACT Testing methods
How long does testing typically take?
Usually about a week.
How accurate is ADACT testing?
Incredibly accurate, ADACT Labs are ISO certified to 0.0005%.
What are the most important elements of this sort of testing?
Reducing variability is the key to successful testing.
How would a layperson interpret these test results?
These results will be simply presented as a percentage of total cannabinoids in the product.
What should they take away from the results to help them make CBD purchases in the future?
The thing readers/consumers will want to focus on is the accuracy on outlining the presence of banned substances, THC, THCA, CBN, THCV (below 1mg per product, not just below 0.2% THC).
Responsibility of consumers
The Extract, in coordination with ADACT, is taking all reasonable measures to ensure the testing is fair and transparent. There will be an initial, small sample range with results presented for reader interpretation.
Important note – we always recommend our readers do their own due diligence before any purchase. Cannabinoids interact with the endocannabinoid system differently for different people. Enjoy CBD responsibly.
Always speak to your doctor before embarking on any long term treatment using medical CBD or deviating from your regular medication.
The Extract and ADACT
It’s our hope that this will in some small part help both the end-user and the CBD industry we all work within. By increasing knowledge, we increase the strength of the CBD market for everyone.
