Topic hub
Lab Testing & COAs
The certificate of analysis is the only evidence layer this market has — no agency checks a hemp vendor’s potency claims before the jar ships. So this hub teaches the audit: match the batch number, verify the lab’s ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, recompute total THC (THCA × 0.877 + Δ9), check the test date, and know what ND means on a contaminant panel. Twenty minutes of literacy here protects every dollar you ever spend in this category.
Where to start
Comparisons
Glossary terms
- COA (Certificate of Analysis)
- The lab report behind a product — the only document worth trusting.
- Batch-Matched COA
- The COA’s batch number matches the bag in your hand — or it proves nothing.
- Total THC (THCA × 0.877 + Δ9)
- The formula for what a product delivers once heated — do the math yourself.
- ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation
- The accreditation standard that separates real labs from letterhead.
- Full-Panel Testing
- Testing beyond potency: pesticides, metals, microbials, solvents.
- ND and LOQ
- The COA abbreviations for “not detected” and “too little to measure.”
- Potency Inflation
- The industry-wide habit of numbers that read higher than the flower tests.
- Lab Shopping
- Sending samples to whichever lab returns the friendliest numbers.
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