Large-scale product recalls have become commonplace in the cannabis industry.
Sometimes it’s due to a simple packaging or manufacturing mishap, but sometimes they can be related to more significant consumer health issues, such as salmonella in the product or the improper use of harmful pesticides.
And while there always seems to be a new recall making headlines in the industry, those who were at the center of a past recall will be dealing with the fallout of trust from consumers, distributors and retailers for years to come.
ASI CEO Tyler Williams
“Safety and quality should be at the forefront of cannabis organizations, and a lot of times it’s an afterthought,” says Tyler Williams, the CEO of ASI Food Safety, a company that provides farm-to-fork food safety services, such as cGMP audits, certifications, training and consulting. “Consumer safety is important for a number of reasons: first and foremost, because we don’t want to kill people, but also it does affect your brand and your brand’s image. So it’s in the best interest of everyone that cannabis companies follow safety and quality protocols.”
ASI was getting more and more inquiries from edible manufacturers looking for food safety guidance, which inspired Williams to create a specific safety standard that ASI could use to audit cannabis. Williams founded Cannabis Safety and Quality (CSQ) in 2020 to help operators establish and maintain consumer safety protocols from seed to sale. Since its creation, ASI has audited more than 100 companies to the CSQ Standard. Williams says cannabis businesses are considerably more vulnerable than traditional operators because they typically work with products that span a variety of industries such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, topicals and dietary supplements, in addition inhalants such as to flower and vapes.
“Cannabis is unique in the fact that it touches all of those industries,” he says. “If you’re creating an edible, the product should be following every single requirement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for food.”
Cannabis manufacturers across the country should consider having a food safety audit conducted by a company like ASI for multiple reasons. Five states currently require third-party audits for cannabis businesses: Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri and New York. And state regulators are increasingly requiring third-party audits for compliance.
Plus, companies looking to futureproof themselves against the imminent federal rescheduling — and the possibility of eventual legalization — should follow the standards set in place by the FDA. While the FDA is not likely to review and audit every licensed cannabis producer, the agency regularly looks to third-party auditors to verify product manufacturers meet the standards for consumer safety.
Another benefit of a third-party audit is helping manufacturers reduce waste, Williams says, pointing out that the cost of an audit is less than the amount of money lost when a brand is forced to throw out a surplus of recalled products.
Cannabis operators, regardless if they are a single-store retailer or a multi-state operator, have a lot at risk by not looking critically at themselves and their suppliers. An audit is not only affordable, it also assures the safety of the supply chain. And it’s also incredibly cheaper than what a business, and the industry as a whole, could lose from a simple oversight.
“One of the main reasons we want cannabis companies to implement these best practices and audits is because if one person screws up, it’s a black eye to the entire industry,” Williams says. “Every time there’s a recall, we see a dip in all cannabis sales just like we do with food. When there’s a recall on lettuce, people don’t care about the brand of lettuce that is being recalled, they stop buying lettuce altogether for a period of time.”