Cannabis News In Brief

SGS and Purity-IQ Launch New Service to Authenticate Cannabis Products

SGS has entered into an audit and certification service relationship with Canadian biotechnology provider Purity-IQ, within the framework of the Cannabis Authenticity and Purity Standard (CAPS) – a new voluntary scheme for Canada and the EU providing brands and specifiers with safety, quality and consistency assurances.

In many jurisdictions where cannabis and hemp are legally available, government regulations tend to stipulate only the basic safety requirements, commented SGS. Industry stakeholders from across Canada and the EU have increasingly raised the need for more rigorous and standardised safety and quality brand protection throughout the medicinal, edible, beverage, topical and recreational cannabis product supply chain.

In response to this need, CAPS will combine a certification scheme for good manufacturing practices with an authenticity identity management system (AIMS).

AIMS will allow for the track and trace of all cannabis and hemp products within the supply chain by requiring them to be registered in the Purity-IQ Global Cannabis Registry^™, a secure database of products that have been scientifically identified according to their genomic/DNA and metabolomic makeup.

The identification process combines nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) screening technology with Purity-IQ’s genomics capabilities, to create a unique ‘fingerprint’ for each cultivar – known as the Purity-IQ Cannabis Fingerprint^™. Whereas genomics is used to determine cannabis identity and heredity, NMR determines the purity and consistency of the product at molecular level.

From the first quarter of 2021, SGS will begin undertaking annual audits of grower, extraction or processing facilities, awarding certification to premises that successfully meet the regulation standards. In addition, facilities which meet the CAPS requirements for product certification will receive product certificates of analysis. This enables brands to display the CAPS certification trademark/seal on a product’s packaging and in wider communications.

Kezzler and Trace Announce Blockchain Partnership

Kezzler, the Norwegian serialisation technology provider, and US company Trace, the soil-to-shelf blockchain software solutions provider, have announced a partnership to redefine supply chain visibility in the hemp and agro-industry at large.

Trace provides supply chain transparency through its customisable software solutions that utilise Ethereum-based blockchain technology to distribute crucial information while removing the potential for altering that information. Whereas blockchain uses encryption to guarantee the immutability of transactions, Kezzler applies encryption to guarantee uniqueness of product identity and centralised processing, thereby enabling scalable performance.

According to the two companies, the partnership combines the best of both paradigms, thereby allowing governments and private businesses to have high-level security, monitoring, and insight into their hemp supply chains.

They go on to state that issues with the systems currently deployed in the US have slowed the growth in the industry and hindered regulators’ efforts to adequately oversee it, further complicating expansion into additional markets. As more states pass adult-use legislation, the need for a properly functioning tracking and regulatory system that can scale in security, volume and complexity without affecting performance becomes paramount.

Molecular Tags that are Sprayed onto Cannabis Flowers

Applied DNA Sciences is applying the unique molecular tag technology it already uses on products such as textiles and military hardware, to the cannabis industry, with the launch of its CertainT tags.

An article by Ben Hartman for The Cannigma describes how the system works. The tag is applied to marijuana or hemp flowers by means of ‘fogging’, or electrostatic spraying, with a corresponding code for that tag stored in a secure database. Additional tags can then be applied to cannabis-derived products to allow them to be verified at any point in the supply chain. In the case of oils, tinctures, tablets, and lotions, the tag would be incorporated directly into these products in the form of digestible synthetic DNA molecules that are chemically identical to the DNA found naturally in food.

The tag would later appear on labels on the finished product, which could also be used to authenticate the product during distribution and at point of sale.

But the importance of the technology goes far beyond one of regulation or of being able to identify the provenance of cannabis products. According to John Shearman, Vice President of Marketing at Applied DNA Sciences, it could also be used by both large and small producers to protect proprietary cannabis strains.   

Oklahoma Announces New Track and Trace Contract with Metrc

Metrc, the leading solution provider in the United States for cannabis governance, has announced a new state contract with the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA). Metrc will begin work immediately to launch its system by February 2021 for the state’s almost 10,000 licensees. With the addition of Oklahoma, Metrc now holds exclusive contracts with state regulators in 14 states and the District of Columbia.

Oklahoma’s legal medical market launched in 2018. Today, it has one of the most business-friendly medical markets with the highest number of dispensaries per resident and more than 300,000 patients.

Metrc’s solution consists of RFID tags with unique identifiers (UID) that licensees attach to plants in their nascent stage until they are harvested. Once harvested and turned into products, other package tags are assigned to these products in order to track them through the supply chain.

The RFID tags hold information on the plants and the final products (including information relating to location, harvests, testing and packing) that regulators can easily track in real-time by entering a UID in the Metrc software.