We perform a lot of testing on drinks. Many of the test results show lower concentrations than what was formulated. Review of the lay literature and trade publications reveals that adsorption (not absorption) losses to the plastic can liner are well-known and continue to plague the beverage industry. The losses are attributed to the partitioning of the lipophilic cannabinoids into the lipophilic plastic liners. The rate at which this partitioning occurs is not well-characterized and is reported to differ with different formulations and liner materials.
Carbonated beverages are reported to lose cannabinoids to the liner more rapidly than non-carbonated beverages. Plastic bottles are typically not used for cannabis beverages because losses are more rapid. Losses with glass containers have not been reported to the same extent so the glass container is the best but is not used widely due to economic factors like cost, weight, non-standard filling mechanisms, shipping, and others. Manufacturers are advised to submit their beverages for testing quickly after manufacture so that the cannabinoid content is closer to the target. Conventional wisdom is that they should be tested within a week of manufacture.
Producing cannabis beverages that deliver the labeled content is a challenge for the cannabis industry. Although the use of glass containers has been cited as the solution, cannabinoids are subject to photodegradation so it is necessary to demonstrate their stability in glass containers.
At KCA we have developed methods that have shown to account for the missing cannabinoid concentrations in drinks. Recent tests have shown up to 10mg of cannabinoids missing in the testing of the liquid that is due to the packaging.
If you are experiencing this issue we’d like to help and provide supporting evidence that the packaging is the culprit through our testing.
I’ve definitely seen all of these things. I’ve also seen that there are additives that prevent this. I’ve also seen this in glass containers depending on the kind of cap. And I’ve seen other issues with glass (light degradation, oxygen intrusion through the cap, etc.) that make it not the be all end all that is out there.
There are some decent private studies available from two of the biggest emulsion houses, including a new one done with the EMA in the EU.
In Michigan - they care about issues with packaging adsorption / leeching / potency loss. So we had to learn how to control this here. We also do bulk tank testing, direct after fill testing, retention testing, and stability work.
If you are looking for help with formulation stuff - feel free to hit the DM. Because @kcalabs is very right. If you aren’t doing the work to prevent this - then you are losing efficiency (having to put more in to get a solid COA) or your product is not stable and you might get caught after the fact for mislabeling after some degradation sets in.
There is also some good evidence that dissolved oxygen plays a role in degradation and loss. So there are multiple options for control - some which work better than others.
Hi there! I am new to this forum, so I don’t know how to DM (tried looking it up and am still confused). If you could DM me, that would be great! My company is currently dealing with this issue and would love to know what you would advise.
I don’t have these problems and the potencies remain the same long after the product has expired (Well over 1 year). My particle size also remains the same. The problem isn’t with the containers, the problem is they are using a low quality nano-emulsion. If you would like to learn more about our patent pending nano-emulsion for the purpose of licensing, DM me.
Hasnt this been discussed on the forums years agos?
Pretty sure ive made a comment here like 4 years ago about how you cant use plastics with nano drinks?
Oh sales pitch nvm lol.
Anything food grade is never supposed to touch plastic or have any marking/meaaurements on a dropper made by lead or specific materials. If you are running into these issues its because your using non food grade materials to carry food grade materials.
Maybe you should educate yourself on some of the simplicities before manufacturing products if you cant differentiate the two.
A simple food handlers license even teaches this to employees before they can legally handle food. Shame its not regulated for peopl3 mfg the products.
This part as well i actually have a shimadzu particle size analyzer(which ik damn near no one else bought cause everyone asks to use ours) and results dont change within its expiration date of 1 year.
And these products are sold in washington and cali legally since inception… yes ive had to take returns on expired products and have tested particle size. Just use food grade materials whala.
if a material doesn’t adsorb the canna emulsion, then sure I don’t expect it to have any affect on the canna concentration > even over time
But if a material does adsorb an amount of canna emulsion , then eventually the amount it adsorbs will be maxed out (based on storage conditions, material type, liquid concentration, surface area of the bottle/vessel, etc) and the canna content in the liquid will plateau .
No way this is true. there are tons of food grade “plastics” out there. Not every type of plastic is non-food grade, just like there are non-food grade metals / alloys
Theres another reason to so, i distro/own a abc license. Ever since covid ive made a lot of posts on price flunctuations and quality of product changes as well. With no notification from the national distrubtors we get it from(as they monopolozed the industry)
This was in the middle of 2023. And in case your wondering every sub brand is owned by coke or pepsi and both brands have moved on to this. No more cane sugar in any of the hispanic drinks anymore. All onto the bs sugar.
It seems like the industry will have to develop new liners for the cans at some point, it will be interesting considering the recipe to make the can liner is a extremely close guarded industry secret. lots of IP theft from Chinese thousand talents plan. Apparently the info was worth over 120 million USD!
I wonder what the effect the can liner has on other emulsified beverages, for example citrus flavored sodas like Squirt that have a high ratio of citrus essential oils suspended in an emulsion.
