Digipath Labs Awarded the Emerald Test Badge for Potency, Pesticides Testing
Digipath Labs has been awarded Emerald Test Badges for Potency and Pesticides Testing. Emerald Test recognition demonstrates the lab's proficiency and commitment to a higher standard of excellence in Cannabis Testing. The Emerald Test Badge results provide a measure of assurance and reliability to the industry as a whole, and particularly to those who depend on testing lab's results for safety, health, and product performance.
In anticipation of ISO 17025 accreditation, Digipath Labs participated in three Emerald Cup tests (pesticides, potency and terpenes) during the Fall 2017 competition. The Emerald Test® uses the standard Inter-laboratory Comparison Proficiency Testing (ILC/PT) program for evaluating how accurately and dependably testing labs perform, by comparing how well the lab measures blinded samples. ILC/PT programs are common in many testing industries, including environmental, food, pharmaceutical, water and petrochemical, providing a point of reference on how well the testing labs are performing individually and as a group. Individual labs can use their ILC/PT results to either verify proficiency to their customers and state regulatory bodies or to point out analytical tests needing further validation effort. This Fall also marked the first time that terpenoids were included as a separate test and because of that, no badges were awarded.
Todd Denkin, Digipath's President & COO, commented, "We are quite proud to win these awards as they validate Dr. Orser's and Digipath Lab's mandate to be the industry leader in cannabis lab testing, science and analytics."
The Pesticides Test is comprised of 22 analytes in hemp matrix, with quantities ranging from 0-1000 ng/g. A blank matrix sample is also provided. The Emerald Potency Test requires the quantitative determination of five cannabinoids: THC, THC-A, CBD, CBDA and CBN in acetonitrile between 0 to 1,000 µg/ml. In previous, single-analyte tests, the Emerald badge was awarded to labs, which performed at or below +/-10% of the actual value of the test. However, with multiple-analyte tests, the calculations become more difficult. The Advisory Panel has recommended the use of a Z score of +/-1 to qualify for the badge. This is a more robust and rational statistical evaluation that will be performed after all of the test data has been received.
