How are you homogenizing your cannabinoids with your gummy solution?
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Scientific stirrer for 30 to 60 mins, plus hard hand-whisk at end when citric is added.
If we want to explore homogeneity, and determine whether the current method of homogenizing is or isn’t doing enough, I would suggest 10 individual samples from the same batch and request an individual potency test on each one for 10 individual potency assay’s. This is very common in pharma for ensuring accurate dosage between individual pills of the same batch, often called Content Uniformity.
It is obvious after these results that there is certainly interlaboratory variability but what we don’t know yet is if that variability is due to the labs themselves, or the product. I’m not going to say the mixing is or isn’t sufficient, because I don’t know, but before I would go to the labs and start questioning the difference in the data, I might suggest running this type of content uniformity test at one or even multiple labs if you have not done this type of study before. At the very least it is another data point for you to examine.
This will at least let you get an idea of what your single batch variability is between individual gummies or individual “doses” of powder. If you do this test with multiple labs I would not compare the labs between themselves for this. This test would solely be to determine variability in individual doses of your product and help you understand if you are a potential source of the varied results or if in fact the labs are all wildly different.
Edit grammer/spelling
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This is overkill IMO
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There are four things I notice that may cause the variability that you are seeing:
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Have you sent a sample of your raw material (d8 distillate) to the lab testing your gummies? I have often seen cases where a raw material testing at 96% at one lab may come in at 86% at another, and it is a good practice to have both raw material and finished product tested at the same lab to ensure that they are analyzed under the same methods.
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Are you dissolving your distillate into a solvent before adding it into your solution? If you add the distillate directly it may not be evenly distributed no matter how much you mix. However, dissolving the distillate into a fraction of MCT oil before adding into your gummies can allow for a more even distribution as it can be dispersed more easily.
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Are you sampling from different points in your production run? If you take a sample from the first few gummies to be made and the last few gummies, are the results equal between the start and finish of your production? Try sending samples from different points in your run and see if the results are consistent, perhaps the beginning is high and the end is low or vice versa.
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Does the laboratory use a Quechers method to extract the cannabinoids during testing? As other commenters have mentioned, the gummy should ideally be dissolved in warm water, then an immiscible organic layer is added (like acetonitrile for example) along with a salt packet, then vortexed and centrifuged. The salt will saturate the aqueous layer and force the cannabinoids into the organic layer, and the lab can then pull a portion from the organic layer and ran through the HPLC.
I hope those help and best of luck on formulation!
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I agree.
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So far, with 3 tests done by both labs on the same products – and lab #2 showing 50% to 200% greater potency on each test – it is statistically improbable that variability is the product.
What I’ve gathered from the early responses…
Any test results of edibles – (a) not generated by a lab that knows what they are doing, and (b) without a matrix created with a dummy gummy – are basically a joke.
I won’t disagree that the results certainly appear to be lab related. You mention lab #2 always showing higher, but lab #1 is always showing lower (based on the data set provided above). Having said that, I can only be confident in facts and I am going to infer based on your statement of “statistically improbable”, that you also don’t actually know if you are making a homogenous product, but are depending on the belief that the mixing process and formulation both lend itself to easy homogenization such that it is not a variable in these lab studies.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but as someone just trying to provide some suggestions on the issue, it’s hard to do so without having one or more sets of data from both halves of the equation, the labs doing the testing as well as something that isolates the product itself.
I’ve been in both shoes, the lab doing testing on products and the client submitting samples for testing, and I’ve always found that if I can approach a lab with sufficient data to support my own sample or product integrity, it’s usually much easier to work with them to get the issues with your results figured out (whether they need a whole new method, need to validate a new matrix, whatever that may be).
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The struggle is real.
Ive been bringing my concentrates to a local lab here in cali, then making my gummies based on the results they generated for said concentrates. And when i bring the gummies back, the numbers they give me are just fucking absurd. Across the board, every sample I have brought them has tested at maybe 10% or less of what my target is. And should be, based upon the test results from the decarbed and mct oil diluted solutions ive been getting tested with them. Have given gummies to people that the lab alleges are 2.5 mg and had them report ‘near psychedelic’ experiences.
Started bringing everything to the lab for more clarity and it has brought more confusion than anything. The concentrate numbers all seem pretty legit but when it comes to gummies, they seem to have no idea what they’re doing. And when theyre telling me that a gummy with a target of 100mg is hitting around 10, thats really a severe difference and potential issue for me and my consumers.
I have been making a list to show them the fluctuations from every batch ive brought them, get samples to another lab and have a comparison list like the one youve got goin on in here and having a lengthy conversation. I would like to continue using that lab due to the convenience of location and low cost testing, but right now it has become blatantly apparent that their process is failing in some way in the realm of edibles.
Once upon a time the guy making our gummies had that problem.
Turned out it was failure to understand “homogeneity”.
You could actually see the extract in the most potent ones…
Got us a new kitchen witch.
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I was send CBD gummies for analysis only once. I proceeded like that. Shreded gummies were melted in a small tube of hot water (60c), with hexane on top. The hexane was analyzed and the customer was satisfied with the results.
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We’d be happy to give the gummies a second look if you’re still having trouble.
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Then you’ve absolutely got to approach the lab director and figure out what they are doing.
Totally agree that getting the extraction right is on them, and incomplete or even inconsistent extraction from edibles is a known issue, but it is also VERY easy to get edibles that are not homogeneous, so pitching it as “…it might be my fault…” is not unreasonable.
Testing lots of individual edibles gets expensive, but if you can demonstrate homogeneity, it’s often easier to convince folks they should give you a price break on the R&D they now have to do to get their extraction efficiency on point.
There may be information they would find useful here: Suggested methods for measuring cannabinoids in gummies and other edibles
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We are a CA based testing lab. Sending you a PM
I’ll look into it for sure, but have been making my gummies now for almost 4 years and have consumers that have been eating them all along and haven’t gotten the feedback that they are inconsistent. My cannabanoids are always carried with mct and I use sunflower lecithin as the emulsifying ingredient to break that down and spread it. Blend with a stick blender and have never seen an ‘oil slick’ on the tops of the syrup or in the molds. Use pour and scrape method for filling molds. But yeah I’ll definitely start the conversation with that, and bring them two samps from the same batch and see how it goes, would be worth it to check i’m sure.
Does your witch use a homogenizer in the cauldron or some sort of emulsifier? We are struggling to get consistent results with regular mixing and trying to decide what magic route to pursue.
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Homogenize the cannabinoids into a carrier then dump them in, this should allow you to hit a 10%metrc testing window with ease
Definitely dont need a homogenizer in the cooking pot
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This is solid advice. Most people would be surprised to see how different items will homogenize together depending upon the order of addition in the entirety of the formulation. You can have 5 different ingredients, and depending on the order they are mixed, you might see 2-3 different levels of homogeneity in the final product; if each order of operation can eventually produce the same level of homogeneity, then you might find that the order of addition will impact other factors such as the intensity or time that mixing is required to hit that specific level of homogeneity. This is where you might see varying levels of final homogeneity based on order of addition. Maybe doing X > Y > Z requires an hour of mixing but you only mix for 30min but doing Z > X > Y will be homogenous after 30min of mixing.
When I make gummies, I usually will mix my oil with some warm coconut oil (refined to remain liquid at room temperature), a little bit of cyclodextrin, and then I set this aside while I mix the other ingredients together in a separate pot. Then when everything is homogenized with the main bulk of ingredients, I’ll add my oil mixture. This has always given me great results, and I would definitely suggest playing around with the way things are mixed together to see if there is a way to improve the process.
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Be careful using cyclodextrin its been shown to cause damage to your hearing
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Yessir, appreciate the heads up. I use very little as I am aware it has some adverse effects even on an acute basis (some people don’t handle it well and it can cause stomach issues). I use 0.15% by weight in my total formulation, with a 3g final gummy weight. This gives me roughly 4.5mg per gummy.
The daily recommended intake of BCD is 5mg per kg of body weight. Obviously because it has a recommended daily intake and is considered GRAS, that doesn’t mean it is inherently risk free in all regards, everything is dangerous in varying amounts. Having said that, I do try to be as responsible as I can be with ingredients and amounts of said ingredients. Appreciate you looking out though.
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