Simplifying Pesticide and Mycotoxin Testing Workflows with Full Sample Preparation & Data Management Automation

Cannabis & Hemp pesticide and mycotoxin testing is difficult and time-consuming for a compliance testing laboratory. With dedicated fully automated cannabis & hemp flower workflows designed specifically for pesticide & mycotoxin residue testing, automation handling solutions enable a cannabis lab to minimize errors, reduce hands-on time, and increase throughput and reproducibility. This poster will present new data and material to show the efficiency gains (ie. more samples per hour), the sensitivity of the analysis to low ppb, the benefit of adding sample preparation automation to reduce labor requirements, and software integration solutions to integrate data into the laboratory LIMs efficiently. References will show that having a verifiable method, and protocol, for the cannabis and hemp testing industry is key in ensuring the highest quality of cannabis and hemp product reaches the patient or consumer. In addition, the influence of the cannabis sample type tested will be discussed as the sample type matrix (flower, extracts, and edibles) has considerable effects on the data integrity.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain what preparation steps in pesticide testing are prone to experimental error and can cause data quality issues.

2. Discuss how quality control standards and internal standards can be used to improve data quality for challenging matrices such as food and cannabis.