Canada’s biggest licensed marijuana producer plans to subject its products to enhanced testing for pesticides and other contaminants, as the industry seeks to restore consumer confidence amid a tainted cannabis scare.
Canopy Growth Corp., which owns the Tweed, Bedrocan, and Mettrum brands, will unveil a new testing regime on Wednesday that it hopes will reassure customers that the products haven’t been exposed to dangerous chemicals. The move comes after The Globe and Mail revealed in December that a recall of medical marijuana at Mettrum was due to the discovery of myclobutanil, a banned pesticide that is not permitted for use on cannabis because it emits hydrogen cyanide when heated and can lead to serious health problems. A similar recall was announced at rival producer Organigram soon after.
The screening will be conducted by an independent, federally accredited laboratory, and the selection of each sample will be managed by the company’s quality assurance official, with the results posted on the company’s website, Mr. Linton said. Growers responsible for each crop will have no say in the random sample each month, and the company may expand the testing to multiple lots some months, he added.
