Gaining Accreditation and Developing Consensus Methods in the Cannabis Testing Lab

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Analytical Cannabis

Cannabis regulatory bodies are increasingly requiring testing laboratories to be ISO/IEC 17025 accredited which is the pinnacle standard of laboratory quality assurance. ISO/IEC 17025 states that labs should “preferably” use standard test methods. Presently there are none for the cannabis industry. In the absence of standard, official, and compendial methods, ISO/IEC 17025 requires labs to develop and validate in-house methods. In those cases where regulatory bodies require ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation before issuing business licenses, method validation and method verification are at best, challenging for the laboratory and the accreditation body. Speaking in 2018, Dr Susan Audino discussed the basic parameters that should be characterized when validating and verifying analytical methods. Further, the fundamental differences between method validation and method verification were covered, and the conditions under which each will be required. Finally, a status update on the development of consensus analytical methods was provided.