NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Icon Farms, a hemp operator and manufacturer for American hemp processors and distributors, has announced a strategic partnership with PathogenDx, Inc., the Arizona technology company which provides DNA-based customized pathogen testing for consumer industries, including food, beverages and cannabis businesses, to help standardize and implement microbial safety protocols across a comprehensive, emerging hemp industry with the launch of a new safety standard in testing amidst a rapidly increasing supply chain.
Revitalized by The Farm Bill of 2018, farmers across the United States are harvesting more than 480,000 licensed acres of hemp for the first time in history. Icon Farms' rigorous safety and quality-check protocols unearthed an opportunity to build upon its founders' expertise in bringing premium cannabis and tobacco to the marketplace in mass volumes. This partnership builds upon that commitment to quality, but in the hemp space. PathogenDx's ultra-rapid method of testing provides results in a fraction of the time and cost, but with much better resolution and accuracy to protect consumers and patients. Aligning with PathogenDx brings world-class, innovative pathogen testing to a broader audience of hemp suppliers within the Icon Farms network.
"Based on an accelerated rate of growth in a rapidly expanding hemp industry, farmers and operators will ultimately have to conform to a standardization of safe hemp production and testing for pesticides and solvents they currently aren't required to report," said Icon Farms President Jordan Gielchinsky. "We have set ourselves far apart by integrating a sophisticated network of uniquely qualified hemp producers that adhere to our strict quality standards. By utilizing only select producers with vast experience and historical knowledge yield us a platform for implementing the highest testing protocols conducted by PathogenDx. Their advanced microbial DNA tests can provide time sensitive results in six hours. This allows us to expedite our processes to with a clean hemp supply chain."
"If you are only testing the end product in a lab, then you have no idea where the contamination is occurring," said Milan Patel, co-founder and CEO of PathogenDx. "This is a major signal from the industry with one of the leading brands adopting PathogenDx technology. Given the persistent quality, safety and contamination challenges we have all seen, it is great to see Mr. Gielchinsky and his team at Icon Farms take a proactive position in upleveling the quality across the entire supply chain. We are exceptionally proud to partner with Icon Farms to leverage the full end-to-end solution capability of our technology to set the safety standard for hemp production at every stage to protect consumer health."
As the popularity of hemp and hemp-derived CBD grows, the demand of hemp and hemp-derived CBD mirrors that growth. PathogenDx and Icon Farms are excited to bring cutting edge processes and testing to the forefront to elevate the hemp industry and together mitigate health and safety concerns for consumer based products.
The Icon Farms and PathogenDx standard in testing hemp cultivation sites, facilities and products will:
- Establish company benchmarks for technology processes and sophisticated machinery to manufacture commercial hemp correctly.
- Move beyond traditional microbial testing via petri dish, which can take up to three days to show results.. A three-day test result waiting time is too long for hemp producers. Crops need to be harvested and moved into manufacturing. PathogenDx yields results in just six hours.
- Utilize testing that is exclusive to hemp.
- Detect and identify a variety of dangerous pathogens in a single test. PathogenDx's advanced microarray testing platform can identify 50 varieties at once.
- Allow testing to be conducted onsite at hemp cultivation and production facilities so producers can pinpoint the source of contamination and immediately begin remediation.
- Ensure that at every step only clean hemp products are passed through the supply chain.
