Certificates of analysis (COA) that report accurate ingredients and confirm acceptable clearance levels of pesticides, heavy metals, and microbial contaminants will be mandatory for all cannabis products. Currently, 96 pesticides are prohibited, and cannabis released for sale must have a documented lab report record to indicate the absence of these compounds within the bulk harvest. The reporting limit is down to 10 ppb-levels in some cases, approximately 5-10x lower than legalized US state regulations. The validation of pesticide quantitation by mass spectrometry (LC-MS and GC-MS) across all potential cannabis-containing products (i.e. dried flower, oil, resins, butters, etc.) has not been implemented in production, but will be necessary with increasing market interest. The program aims to bring validated methods into high-throughput MS testing “production” by the end of 2018 to serve the heightened demand of regulated cannabis QA/QC required by Health Canada.
Prof. Li’s expertise and global recognition linked with this work will earmark potential revenue for trade of techniques and reference materials in application to hemp cultivation and oil extractions. It will also open new access pathways to large international markets that do not classify hemp as a controlled substance and encourage drug development exemptions within the pharma industry and clinical sciences.
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