Laboratory testing of cannabis: what a certificate of analysis proves, what it only samples, and how to read potency, terpene, pesticide, heavy metal, microbial and residual solvent results without over-reading them.
This board is for the documents and the methods, not for the marketing built on top of them. Testing questions from growers, from shops checking incoming stock, and from buyers comparing certificates all belong here.
Two habits are worth forming. A certificate belongs to a batch and to the sample drawn from it, not to a brand or a shop, so the batch number and the sampling date matter as much as the numbers. And the method matters: potency figures depend on whether the laboratory reports the acidic forms, the decarboxylated total, or both, and two certificates are not comparable until you know which convention each one used.
The board carries one reference article so far, alongside member questions.
Where to start
Related elsewhere on the forum: Good Agricultural and Collection Practice for Cannabis in Medical Cannabis, and Integrated Pest Management for Cannabis in Diseases, Insects and Mites.