Majority Of Delta-8 THC Products In The U.S. Are Mislabeled, Report Finds

It’s no secret the U.S. CBD industry and its customers have been clamoring for more stringent regulations on product testing and labeling. Since the federal government passed the Farm Bill in 2018 to legalize the growing and sale of hemp, activists and business owners have prioritized tightening up regulations in hopes of forcing out black market dealers and “bad actors.”

But nearly three years after the Farm Bill passed, a recent study suggests authorities have yet to make any meaningful progress. In fact, lagging regulations seem to have opened the door for companies to be sloppy and — in some cases — dishonest.

An investigation of 51 popular Delta-8 products from over four dozen different manufacturers concluded that companies regularly mislabel their gummies, vaporizer cartridges, and other items that suggest incompetency at best and intentional chicanery at worst.

The study, from CBD Oracle, commissioned California-based FESA Labs to determine whether Delta-8 THC products contained under the legal limit of 0.3 percent delta-9 THC or less, also found labs appeared to fake their label claims’ Certificates of Authenticity in hopes that customers wouldn’t investigate the results themselves.

Similar CBD product tests in the past have detailed a long pattern of mislabeling. But the CBD Oracle report claims to be the first to specifically test Delta-8 THC products, which feature similar properties to the Delta-9 THC found in marijuana but instead are derived from hemp.

39 of the 51 products tested had less Delta-8 THC than the product label claimed. One concentrate from Los Angeles-based CBD producer Binoid, contained only a third of the advertised Delta-8.

More than three-quarters of the tested products had more than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC—above the legal limit permitted by the Farm Bill. FESA found a product from Oregon-based Delta Alternatives that claimed 0.28 percent Delta-9 THC actually showed a whopping 22.34 percent Delta-9 in the lab test.

“The problem for many of the Delta-8 companies based on our testing is that the customers probably shouldn’t trust what’s on the labels,” said Jayneil Kamdar, FESA chemist who conducted the tests.

An estimated 160 companies across the United States sell Delta-8 products, including flower, concentrates, vape products, edibles, and oils among other products.