Leafreport Releases Results of Transparency Analysis of Cannabidiol Products

Recently, Leafreport, an Israeli company that provides reviews of cannabidiol (CBD) companies and products, released their 2022 transparency report for 4384 CBD products, which included products intended for human and animal consumption. According to their report, Leafreport conducted their research by examining the certificates of analysis (CoA) of 188 brands as advertised on their websites (1). The purity and potency aspects that Leafreport examined were the percentage of products that had been tested for pesticides, heavy metals, and microbes, plus products that fell within the acceptable variance level.

Some of the key findings Leafreport noted were (1):

• 7% of brands tested all their products for microbes, pesticides, and heavy metals
• 28% of brands did not carry out any testing for pesticides (such as glyphosate)
• 26% did not test for the presence of any heavy metals (such as arsenic)
• 24% did not test for microbes (like bacteria)
• Only 12% of brands had all their products fall within acceptable potency variance limits (+/-10%)

In comparison to their 2021 report, Leafreport stated that, “transparency within the CBD industry appears to be stagnating and deteriorating in several critical respects” (1). For example, the report stated that “88% of brands had at least one product measure beyond acceptable potency variance levels in 2022 in comparison to 84% in 2021” (1).

However, there were some small improvements from 2021. For example, the report stated that “the number of brands that carry out no purity testing has dropped from 25% to 20%. The number of brands that carry out absolutely no testing at all has dropped from three brands in 2021 to two this year” (1). Additionally, just “two brands carried out no lab testing at all for either purity or potency, compared to three brands in 2021.”

Leafreport also provided a detailed list of the CBD brands that tested all their products for potency, microbes, heavy metals, and pesticides, plus a list of brands that tested all their products for potency.

References:

1. https://www.leafreport.com/education/cbd-market-transparency-report-only-7-of-brands-test-for-pesticides-heavy-metals-and-microbes-16349