Are You Offering the Best CBD Oil? Here’s How to Know
From food and drinks to lotions and gels, CBD products are dominating the wellness industry, presenting both opportunity and risk for supplement manufacturers looking to enter the marketplace. While the 2018 Farm Bill legalized the commercial sale of CBD, it’s still not regulated as a dietary supplement by the FDA, meaning that many items hitting the shelves are low quality or even fake.
According to Google research, more than half of consumers say they always perform research before buying a product to ensure they’re making the best choice. With vast amounts of information often literally in the palm of their hand, shoppers are investigating claims and looking up ingredients to ensure they’re getting what they pay for. To make your offerings stand out from the competition, it’s imperative for supplement brands to use the best CBD oil from a proven, reputable manufacturer.
Before partnering with a CBD contract manufacturing partner, you’ll want to do some strict vetting before signing on the proverbial dotted line. Here’s what to look for in your research.
CBD Certifications
Today’s consumers expect more from brands, especially ones that produce foods, supplements, and other consumable goods. A growing number of them care about environmentally friendly products and organic ingredients and want an independent source to verify any claims made by the company. A 2019 NSF International survey found that 85% of consumers trust third-party certification organizations to verify product claims. By displaying these certifications on your product, you’re immediately earning the trust of your target audience and strengthening your brand’s credibility.
When choosing a CBD oil manufacturing company, look for the following CBD certifications:
cGMP Certification
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) closely regulates pharmaceuticals to ensure quality and safety. Their main regulatory standard, the Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs), ensures that a product is both safe and effective. This certification means that manufacturers have proper quality management and procedures in place throughout their facilities and can detect, investigate, and prevent errors and deviations.
Consumers aren’t able to evaluate the safety of a product, so they rely on FDA regulations and certifications like this one to ensure they’re purchasing a quality supplement. If a CBD oil manufacturing company isn’t cGMP-compliant, any product it makes could be considered unsafe or ineffective. This can mean that the company isn’t using safe processing methods or that they’re relying on subpar equipment, which has the potential to contaminate the oil with heavy metals and toxins.
Detox Project
The Detox Project promotes transparency around the use of toxic chemicals in food and supplements. Through technologically based testing procedures, they give their stamp of approval to products that meet strict quality standards and are free of glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the world. With many consumers looking for eco-friendly and safe products, this certification can be a great way to set your supplement apart from competitor products.
ISO Certification
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental organization that develops standards to ensure consistency, safety, and sound business practices. While ISO develops standards, the organization isn’t involved in the certification process; certificates are issued by external certification bodies rather than by ISO.
Partnering with an ISO-certified business means that their organization has been audited by a non-biased third-party certification body and meets certain specified standards related to any of a number of business areas from manufacturing and safety to packaging and customer service.
Certified B Corporation
Using businesses as forces for good — that’s the premise behind B Lab, the nonprofit organization looking to transform the economy by balancing “profit with purpose.” B Lab creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that for-profit companies must meet to be classified as a Certified B Corporation.
To obtain the certification, a company must pass a B Lab assessment, which tests five categories: accountability, transparency, performance, availability, and cost. Put simply, though, the B Corporation certification is concerned with how companies treat their employees, manufacture their product, and handle their waste.
One of the benefits of obtaining the certification is to help companies clearly and easily communicate their values to potential customers. Earning the title sets them apart from competitors who may not always practice what they preach when it comes to social and environmental responsibility.
Assessing CBD Oil Manufacturing Companies: Other Criteria to Evaluate
Third-party Lab Testing Results
In addition to the third-party certifications above, be sure to closely evaluate the company’s third-party lab reports, which should be available for all of their products. The absence of Certificates of Analysis is a major red flag.
Ideally, lab test results should verify that the manufacturer’s products contain the optimal amount of cannabinoids and are free of unwanted and harmful ingredients like pesticides, herbicides, mold, fungi, heavy metals, and mycotoxins.
Years of Business
CBD is an emerging market, so you’re not going to find any businesses in the industry that can boast decades of experience. However, you do want to partner with a company that’s been around long enough to have proven results.
Brand new CBD contract manufacturing businesses haven’t had the time to go through certification processes or compile a thorough lab testing record. If you’re considering partnering with a CBD oil white label that’s less than five years old, proceed with caution.
Set Your Supplement Brand Up for Success
If you’re looking for a manufacturer who holds all of the aforementioned certifications, has verified third-party lab testing, and boasts almost a decade of experience, turn to Natural Supplement Manufacturing. We’re committed to making the highest quality, purest cannabinoid wellness products in the world — including CBD oil, CBC oil, CBG oil, and CBN oil — and we have the track record to back our mission.
To learn more about our white label, private label, or custom cannabinoid wellness products, schedule a consultation now and talk with our team.