COA Series: Potency & Terpenes

Our primary goal, here at Canna Companion, is your pet’s wellness. As you’ve been able to see, we do a lot of testing to ensure everything we make is safe for your furry family member. Along with the many possible contaminants, we also test for potency and terpenes to make sure your pet’s endocannabinoid system will be well supported by our products. In our penultimate article of this series on Certificates of Analysis (COAs), we cover this final set of testing performed on all of our products. As a reminder, the other tests we run include the following:

• • Residual Solvent Analysis
  • Mycotoxin
  • Pesticides
  • Heavy Metals
  • Microbials
  • Potency & Terpenes

This last set of tests covers many different compounds. For our purposes, though, we are going to focus on the cannabinoids CBD & THC, and overall terpene content. There are a number of reasons we test for these things; most importantly, we want to ensure that the makeup of our products is appropriate to provide the support that we promise. Knowing the amount of CBD, ratio of CBD to THC, and the terpene content are all important in making sure that our products are aligned with recommended administration guidelines. This way we can demonstrate that your pet’s endocannabinoid system is receiving compounds for optimum support.

Testing for such compounds is not straight forward as there are problems within the cannabis testing industry. While HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) is the preferred method for potency & GC (gas-chromatography) ideal for terpenes, significant variation occurs between testing facilities. During our many years in business, we have developed several different ways in which we limit such variation:

• Routine testing through our primary cannabis testing laboratory
• Comparison of test results with formulation calculations dating back more than a decade 
• Quarterly ring tests with secondary and tertiary testing facilities 
• Retesting of any sample whose initial test results fall outside of standard deviation. 

In addition to making sure our products remain consistent and within internal specifications, these tests are important to demonstrate regulatory compliance. All of our CBD is derived from hemp, in accordance with federal law. THC content must be below 0.3% and we verify this, maintaining extensive records. You can feel confident knowing that our products are legal in all 50 states. (For more information regarding hemp cultivation legislation, click here.)

In our next article, we’ll be wrapping up this series with information on what tests we perform on which ingredients at different stages during our manufacturing process. We want you to feel completely confident in your choice of Canna Companion. If, at any time, you would like to see a copy of our COA, you may do so by contacting Customer Service.