Cannabis packaging companies scrutinized over product claims

State regulators are scrutinizing cannabis packaging businesses over unverified product statements, targeting at least one company over claims that its bags prevented mold.The crackdown follows a wave of product recalls in at least seven states where cannabis regulators discovered mold in products cleared for sale, underscoring consumer safety concerns.

ADVERTISEMENT Promises made on packaging are coming under a microscope as other questions swirl around the reliability of labs and regulators’ power to ensure product labels are trustworthy and accurate.But the problems market leader Grove Bags encountered over its TerpLoc products in Washington and Colorado show how ancillary companies risk legal action and lost revenue, leaders in the cannabis packaging sector told MJBizDaily.

“There’s quite a few packaging companies that are making these … claims, and the government is starting to come in and enforce them,” said Simon Knobel, co-founder and CEO of Calyx Containers, a Utah-based cannabis packaging business.“In general, the cannabis packaging industry should know about these laws and what’s going on because there’s potential liability.” Cannabis packaging claims under the microscope Grove Bags was forced to pull products from the market and redesign them after drawing scrutiny in Colorado and Washington state over claims that its TerpLoc bags prevent mold.

Companies that make such claims must be registered with the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency and include an EPA establishment number on their products’ labels, said Daniel Schafer, communications administrator for the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA).

According to WSDA’s Sept.26 order, Grove’s popular TerpLoc bags meet the definition of a “device.” A device is defined as “any instrument or contrivance intended to trap, destroy, control, repel, or mitigate pests, or to destroy, control, repel or mitigate ...