Wellness

Third Party Testing CBD: What It Is and Why It’s Important

How do we know that the CBD products we use every day are safe? A lot of CBD manufacturers talk about being “third party lab tested”, but what does that actually mean?

By Medterra Wellness

September 27, 2021 - 5 minute read

Third Party Testing CBD: What It Is and Why It’s Important

Third Party Testing and CBD

Third party testing is necessary for quality control because third party labs and their employees are impartial. With third party testing, you can be confident that your CBD products are up to standard and otherwise as advertised.

Because third party testing isn’t required to put your CBD and hemp-derived products on the market, not every brand chooses to use a third party testing laboratory - even though third party testing ensures that CBD products are safe and effective. As a result, CBD quality standards vary quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer, and it can be difficult to find good quality products if you don’t know what to look for.

Tested vs. Untested CBD

There are many dangers to consuming untested hemp products.

Hemp is a good bio-accumulator, which allows it to get nutrients from the soil more easily than other plants. This also leads hemp roots to obtain undesirable elements from the soil. Trace heavy metals such as lead and cadmium can leach from contaminated soil into the hemp plants, which can then end up in your CBD.

When CBD products are tested by a third party, they are tested for trace heavy metals as well as pesticides, mold, and other contaminants like E. coli and listeria.

Sellers can also misrepresent the concentration of CBD and other cannabinoids in their products. You could end up purchasing a CBD product that contains no CBD whatsoever.

When a third party lab tests CBD products, they create detailed certificates of analysis affirming the purity, potency, and safety of each individual product. Not only will you be able to see exact concentrations of CBD and other cannabinoids, you’ll be able to see exactly how safe your CBD is, by the numbers.

A totally transparent CBD manufacturer will make those certificates of analysis available and easy to find on their website or through a scannable code directly on the bottle itself.

It’s important to be able to look at the certificates of analysis yourself to make sure that there are no questions about the safety of your CBD.

Finding the Safest CBD

When you’re looking for the safest CBD and hemp derived products, always look for these three things:

Is it third party tested?
Does the company provide certificates of analysis to their customers?
Are those certificates of analysis easy to find on the website or on the product packaging?

If it’s yes to all three questions, you can be secure knowing that you’ve found the best quality, safest CBD available.