Blog
On April 30, 2020, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) released proposed regulations for the OCal Program, a state-run organic-equivalent program designed to follow standards used by the US Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (USDA NOP).
January 29, 2020 marked the end of the USDA’s comment period regarding the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program interim final rule. Read more to learn about the primary issues concerning stakeholders and the current state of the nation's hemp industry.
Anresco analyzed a series of illicit market samples and found most were adulterated with high levels of vitamin e acetate — a compound frequently linked to the recent vaping crisis. Additionally, all samples failed the California BCC’s limits for pesticides, in some cases at hundreds of times the permitted level.
As the number of cannabis products proliferate and their total consumption increases, food safety has become a significant concern of both regulators and the industry in general. The cannabis industry will benefit immensely by adopting the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMPs) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) that the food industry has successfully implemented to control food safety.
California’s cannabis testing requirements tightened further on January 1, 2019 with the introduction of the BCC's Phase III compliance regulations -- mandating, amongst other things, heavy metal testing of all cannabis products. While all product categories have been impacted by the change, vaporizer cartridges (disposable delivery devices similar to e-cigarettes) in particular have struggled to meet the new permitted limits for lead.
