PerkinElmer Earns One of the Highest Standards for Proficiency in Cannabis Testing
When something is approved, it’s often said that it ‘got the green light’. Well now PerkinElmer, Inc., one of the leading equipment providers to the life science industry, have gone one step beyond ‘getting the green light’. Because the company is now the only solutions provider in the world to pass the Emerald Test, a new industrial benchmark for cannabis testing labs.
Speaking to Analytical Cannabis, Greg Sears, Vice President and General Manager of food, chromatography and mass spectrometry, discovery & analytical solutions at PerkinElmer said that, “the Emerald Test program aligns with PerkinElmer’s goal of providing labs with the analytical instrumentation and application support needed to run a successful laboratory and, most importantly, ensure the safety of cannabis and hemp products wherever legally consumed.”
But the Emerald Test, which is offered by Emerald Scientific, is still so new that many working in the cannabis industry may not have heard of it. Offered twice each year, passing the proficiency testing program demonstrates that organizations can meet one of the highest standards available.
Commentating on PerkinElmer’s success and suitability for cannabis labs, Sears said that “our instruments and services are well-positioned for a cannabis labs’ current and future regulatory needs, but the Emerald Test badges provide unique proof that PerkinElmer is ‘walking the talk.’ The badges reaffirm the ability of our instruments and testing methods to help laboratories meet any region’s regulation.”
Sears goes on to cite a lack of federal oversight and interstate regulatory differences as obstacles to an agreed, national set of cannabis lab standards. In its place, the Emerald Test “is considered an industry benchmark for method validation. Participating in and passing the proficiency testing program demonstrates that organizations can meet one of the highest standards available.”
The tests were carried out using PerkinElmer’s highly sensitive QSight® 220 and 420 Triple Quad systems, both of which were designed for rapid identification and quantitation of pesticides, mycotoxins and emerging contaminants in complex food, cannabis and environmental samples.
“To date, PerkinElmer is the only solutions provider to successfully complete these five Emerald Scientific proficiency tests,” says Sears.
“The badges underscore our instruments’ ability to help cannabis labs meet the highest standards available in the industry and effectively address their biggest pain point: Navigating diverse regulations without compromising turnaround time.”
To further demonstrate its use to the cannabis industry, the company are also developing a single LC/MS/MS method using the QSight Triple Quad systems, which will help customers address stringent pesticide and mycotoxin regulatory requirements in states like California and Oregon.
Preliminary studies in cannabis flower, extracts and edibles also confirm the QSight Triple Quad system’s ability to help customers comply with new federal regulations in Canada, which set action limits nearly ten times lower than California.
