What is a CBD Certificate of Analysis?

Certificate of Analysis (CoA) is a report from an accredited laboratory that details the chemical analysis of our CBD products, the reports are done through a third-party lab and will have a break down on the cannabinoid potency, different cannabinoid types and screening of heavy metals. COLOMBIAN GOLD® uses batch numbers and QR codes that will link to the CoA report for that particular product. You can find the QR code and batch number on the back or bottom of COLOMBIAN GOLD® products.

How to Read a CBD Certificate of Analysis

Knowing what the data in each section of the COA means is important. Although there may be some slight differences in how the lab results are reported, these lab reports all follow a similar format. Here are the basics on how to pull the most critical information from a CBD certificate of analysis.

Cannabinoid Types

There are a variety of cannabinoid compounds in the hemp plant. If you’re selling full-spectrum CBD oil, your full-spectrum certificate of analysis should list all the detectable cannabinoids, including CBD, CBDV, and CBG. This section will also include THC, the cannabinoid you don’t want if your product isn’t labeled and legally sold as cannabis — at least not at levels that exceed .3% weight. As you’re scrolling down the list of compounds, you may notice the initials ND next to some of the compounds. That’s short for “non-detect,” lab-speak for “there was so little of this compound present the equipment couldn’t pick it up.”

Weight Percentage

This column is just to the right of the list of cannabinoid types. The weight percentage lists the percentage by weight of each cannabinoid. The reported weight is the weight of just the product itself, minus the packaging.

Concentration

The next column reports the concentration of each cannabinoid as part of the whole product. The concentration is measured in milligrams per gram (mg/g). Especially for CBD oils, the concentration column makes it fairly easy to double-check that you’re getting what you’ve paid for. For example, if you’ve purchased a product weighing 50 grams that advertises it contains a total of 600mg of CBD, you should see a concentration of 12mg of CBD per gram.

Heavy Metal Analysis

Ingesting heavy metals in amounts that exceed safe levels can make you sick. That’s why many manufacturers test for these as part of their CBD certificate of analysis. In this section, there are two important places to look. The first is the tested concentration level of each heavy metal in the list. This number tells you how much of each metal was found during testing. The second is the Ingestion column under the Use Limits heading. This number is the maximum amount the government considers safe to consume. The tested concentration level should always be far below the ingestion use limit.