Colorado Regulators Recall Cannabis Products Due to Mold Contamination

State regulators in Colorado have recalled a batch of cannabis flower products for breaching acceptable levels of yeast and mold.

In a notice issued on January 8, the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) said that the batches were produced in late October of last year by Denver-based company Veritas Fine Cannabis.

Products made from these batches, marketed as Grape Oz and Biker Oz strains, were then reportedly sold to adult-use stores between November 16 and December 16.

Any consumer in possession of such a product has been advised by the DOR to return it to the initial retailer.

Local dispensaries in Denver made headlines in late 2019, following reports that 80 percent of yeast and mold tests carried out by city officials on cannabis products had failed. But speaking to Analytical Cannabis at the time, state regulators explained that those figures had been exaggerated.

“So that 80 percent number is not accurate of the actual overall study,” said Heather Krug, state marijuana laboratory sciences program manager at the Colorado Laboratory Services Division. “The average failure rate for all three of those matrix types [pre-rolls, shake and trim, and flower] was about 30 percent.”

Speaking more generally about cannabis testing in Colorado, Krug said that the state had seen an improvement in compliance, but microbial levels still remain an area with higher failure rates.

“That makes a lot of sense because mold is this ubiquitous thing in the environment and is prone to grow in these types of environments where cannabis is grown,” she added.

“We are having a lot of ongoing discussions surrounding microbial testing and the limits associated with testing just to ensure that we are still being protected with public health, but also realistic with what is likely to occur within the cannabis plant.”