CBD Lab Report: How to Read a CoA Step by Step

A certificate of analysis – CoA in technical jargon, short for Certificate of Analysis – is the most honest document a CBD product can come with. This CBD lab report shows what is actually inside. But it is of little use if you cannot put the figures into context. Here we go through a CoA from top to bottom.

1. Header: who tested what, and when?

At the very top are the laboratory, the client, the test date and the sample name. Three things are crucial:

• Independent laboratory instead of in-house analysis
• Test date: A certificate from 2019 says nothing about today’s batch; however, as the hemp plants are always harvested in autumn, it is normal for certificates to be up to 1.5 years old.
• Batch or lot number, which you will find again on your bottle. Without this link, the document is arbitrary.

2. Cannabinoid profile

The central table lists the individual cannabinoids, usually in per cent and in mg per gram or millilitre. Here is what you should look out for:

• CBD and CBDA: In uncut raw extract, much of the cannabidiol is present in its acid form, CBDA. Reputable certificates therefore state a “Total CBD” value that takes the conversion into account.
• Consistency with the label: Do a quick calculation. A 10 ml bottle at 10% should contain around 1,000 mg of CBD. Deviations of a few per cent are normal, large gaps are not.
• Minor cannabinoids such as CBG, CBC or CBN show whether it is a full spectrum product.
• LOQ/LOD: “< LOQ” means that the substance is below the limit of quantification – not necessarily “zero”.

3. The THC value

“Total THC” takes into account delta-9-THC plus the acid form THCA. It is precisely this value that is legally relevant and important for anyone who is subject to tests. How this fits together in everyday life is explained under CBD and drug tests.

4. Residues and contaminants

A complete testing package covers more than cannabinoids:

Test item	Why it matters
Pesticides	Residues from cultivation
Heavy metals	Hemp absorbs lead, cadmium and nickel from the soil
Residual solvents	Not an issue with CO2 extraction or solvent-free extraction, but they are with other methods
Microbiology and mould	Relevant for plant-based starting material
Mycotoxins	Metabolic products of moulds

5. Warning signs in a CBD lab report

• Certificate without a batch number or without a date.
• Only a screenshot of the cannabinoid profile instead of the complete document.
• Values that do not match the label.
• No testing laboratory named, or analysis carried out “in-house”.
• No certificate to be found at all – the most common case in online retail.

Market studies regularly show significant deviations between the label and the laboratory value (Bonn-Miller et al., 2017; Gurley et al., 2020). That is exactly why we make our analyses openly available: you can find them under Quality & analysis and directly with the products in our CBD oils.