Have you ever looked at the Certificate of Analysis for your favorite CBD product? It's easy to skim the contents (or skip over it completely), but it's worth taking a closer look at this document!


What is a Certificate of Analysis?

A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is a document that shows the results of independent lab testing performed on a product to show the ingredients (including contaminants) present in that product. For CBD products, the COA shows how much CBD is in the product, whether any other cannabinoids (like THC) are present and in what amounts, and whether the product has any contaminants like heavy metals, mold growth or residual solvents.


Why is a COA important?

Independent lab testing is how CBD companies know that a final product meets brand standards and matches the product description and label. And when it's made a public, a COA provides information, reassurance and transparency for consumers.

But independent lab testing and public COAs are not mandated under current federal law, and some companies re-use old test results instead of testing new batches (or don't do any product testing at all)! In 2022, Leafreport reviewed 2,946 CBD products from 136 brands and found that only 13% of CBD brands tested almost all of their products for purity, and 1 out of 4 CBD brands didn't carry out any purity testing at all.* In the same year, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine published a study testing 105 topical CBD products and comparing their test results to the products' labels. The researchers found that 16 of the products contained >10% less CBD than advertised, that 52 of the products contained >10% more CBD than advertised, and that only 21 products were accurately labeled (16 did not list total CBD amounts on the label).**


How can I access CBDistillery's COAs?

We were one of the very first manufacturers to provide customer access to third-party test results of every product offered, and we did it so our customers can feel confident about purchasing our products. You can view the COA for every single batch of products we make on our website by scanning the QR code on the label, or visiting the Lab Testing page on our website and entering your product's Batch ID. We also post full lab results on each product page on our website; to view them, simply scroll down until you see the section titled "Third-Party Lab Tested."

*Stone, E. (2022, Oct. 16). CBD Buyer Beware: Leafreport Decided to Uncover Which CBD Brands are Testing, and Which are Not. Leafreport. https://www.leafreport.com/education/cbd-buyer-beware-leafreport-decided-to-uncover-which-cbd-brands-are-testing-and-which-are-not-10643

**Spindle TR, Sholler DJ, Cone EJ, et al. Cannabinoid Content and Label Accuracy of Hemp-Derived Topical Products Available Online and at National Retail Stores. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(7):e2223019. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.23019