A new report from a federal science agency examines moisture and drying standards in hemp, part of an ongoing project to help laboratories ensure accuracy and precision when testing cannabis products.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the report late last month, finding considerable variation in moisture levels from facilities that used different approaches to drying. The agency said the results indicate "the need for consistent hemp drying method(s) for accurate and precise measurements."
The 29-page paper is the latest in NIST's so-called Cannabis Laboratory Quality Assurance Program (CannaQAP), launched in 2020. The program's most recent prior report, published last year, focused on determining cannabinoid content in plant material samples, following earlier reports on moisture content and certain toxins and heavy metals.
The program, created after the 2018 Farm Bill's federal legalization of hemp, is split into three exercises. The first centered on measuring the concentration of up to 17 different cannabinoids in hemp oil. NIST published a report on that segment in mid-2021.
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