Food and Beverage

Teach Me in 10

In this episode of Teach Me in 10 we are joined by Nick Arnold who will explore the benefits of applying laboratory information management systems (LIMS) in a food and beverage environment. 

Arnold will be discussing achieving and maintaining compliance, streamlining and automating processes and ultimately improving the bottom line for the business.

The Benefits of Applying LIMS in Food and Beverage Laboratories With Nick Arnold

Analytical Cannabis 

The problem with tiny amounts of cannabinoids is that as the concentration decreases, it becomes harder to accurately quantify the analyte of interest. Very small amounts of THC or CBD, close to an analytical system's LOQ, can be difficult to quantify especially when dealing with complex organic mixtures of volatile constituents.

The newly proposed ASTM Specification for Label Content and Style, Format, Location, and Prominence of Elements for Consumer Products Containing Cannabinoids addresses label claim verification for cannabinoid dominance and concentration. This proposed standard suggests the use of +/- 15% w/w or +/- 3x LOQ w/w depending on which is least restrictive for the verification of cannabinoid concentration. For large serving/dosage sizes +/- 15% is less restrictive than +/- 3x LOQ, but for small serving/dosage sizes +/- 3x LOQ is less restrictive than +/- 15%.

This presentation will go into the concept of label claim validation and the challenges in quantifying tiny amounts of cannabinoids and how this impacts inspectors’ and other interested parties’ abilities to verify the amount of each cannabinoid printed on the label.

Validating Cannabinoid Label Claims – The Problem with Tiny Amounts

Processors and cultivators are looking for a fast in-house method to screen for the most common terpenes in cannabis. This presentation will discuss the methodology for a quick, less expensive screening method for terpenes in cannabis using GC-FID with backflush, that targets 22 of the more common terpenes.

Fast Analysis of 22 Terpenes in Cannabis by GC-FID

After the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill authorizing the production of hemp, the number and variety of hemp-derived products being sold to consumers has proliferated greatly. While the majority of products have been based on extracts high in non-intoxicating or mildly intoxicating cannabinoids such as CBD, CBG or CBN, here has been a recent rise in the production of intoxicating products derived from hemp, including (but not limited to) delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, HHC, and THC-O-Acetate. Recent court rulings have supported the claim that these types of products are federally legal if they do not contain greater than 0.3% delta-9 THC.

Accordingly, manufacturers are increasingly producing edible products that contain less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by weight that can contain as much or more THC as manufactured edibles in the legal regulated cannabis market. An analysis of 53 samples for a study published by CBD Oracle shows that while most products labelled to be infused with hemp-derived delta-9 THC did contain less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, there were often large differences in actual THC values compared with the label claims. Additionally, the origin of the delta-9 THC is variable based on the cannabinoid profiles of the samples.

The analysis of the data for the CBD Oracle study as well as a broader discussion on the legal landscape of hemp-derived delta-9 THC will be presented.

Analysis of Hemp-Derived Delta-9 Products

Testing laboratories have found several ways to inflate potency results in manners that could be deemed kosher practices. The most common being that dry weight corrections are applied to the result. The major pitfall with using moisture corrections for potency results, is that the standard method in the industry is not a true representation of the moisture in cannabis flower. Currently, moisture is determined using a moisture balance which calculates the result through the amount of weight lost during drying. The issue with this analysis is that in order to remove the water, the sample must be heated to at least 100°C. When doing this, the cannabinoids present in the sample begin to decarboxylate and terpenes are volatilized. In order to combat this issue and provide more accurate results to clients, our laboratory has validated an alternative method for measuring the moisture content in cannabis flower. Moisture corrections for potency are not necessary, however, if they are used, it must be done in a manner that does not erroneously inflate the results.

Moisture Analysis in Cannabis – How the Standard Method Leads to Inflated Potencies

The need for new analytical methods for analyzing Terpenes is on the rise. The use of Thermal Desorption / Gas Chromatography (TD/GC) offers an effective sampling technique for analyzing the Terpene concentrations from cannabis & hemp. Collecting samples into air sampling tubes eliminates the hassle of removing and shipping valuable parts of the plants to the lab for analysis. Capturing the air sample onto an adsorbent filled air sampling tube eliminates the need for solvent extractions of the plant material. Using TD/GC provides a cleaner sample and a way to quantitate the concentration of the Terpenes emitted at different growing & processing stages. In this talk we’ll provide examples of how thermal desorption tubes can be used for capturing Terpenes from both the air near the plants or by using dynamic headspace to capture the Terpenes from ground plant material. The use of thermal desorption tubes could help both seed producers and growers better understand what growing conditions influence the terpene profile of the plants.

The Benefits of Sampling Terpenes Using Thermal Desorption and Gas Chromatography

Most states require mycotoxin testing for cannabis products. This testing is limited to 5 analytes (Ochratoxin A, Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2). Data from multiple state regulators, as well as our own laboratories, show these analytes appear with very low frequency. The microorganisms which are know to produce mycotoxins, however are prevalent across the USA in cannabis. Why then do we not detect mycotoxins? This talk will dive into this question and pose a more robust, risk based approach, to mycotoxin testing in the future.

Mycotoxin Testing and the Search for Contaminants

A panel discussion on understanding terpenes in cannabis.

Panel Discussion: Terpenes in Cannabis

For 50 years, cannabis has been a prohibited substance under Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substance Act. However, in that time we have also seen a rise in states authorizing the medical and/or adult recreational use of the substance. This dichotomy has created a huge conflict of state and federal law, yet the federal government has been slow to act and propose solutions to this problem until recent years. Join Abbey as she walks through where the country is at now, where the federal government is heading, and which policy considerations are most important when attempting to fix the broken cannabis system.

Food and Beverage

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