USDA Organic CBD vs Made with Organic Ingredients vs Sourced from Organically grown hemp or Naturally Grown.

As more and more companies, especially “marketing” companies that do not participate in any part of the process, continue to add CBD to their products, it is ever more important to be vigilant about what people say on their labels.  We have addressed how to be label savvy, the types of cbd extraction, and most recently the difference between full spectrum, limited spectrum and isolate CBD products.

In this post we wanted to add some clarity as to the importance of a USDA Organic CBD Product as opposed to saying that something is derived from “Organic Sources” or that it is made with organic ingredients or sourced from organic hemp without any other form of certification.

“Organic Practices” or “Naturally Grown”

“Organic Practices” and “Naturally Grown are the two vaguest terms that you will see companies talk about on their websites and labels when promoting their CBD products that are not certified organic or made with organic ingredients.  There is no certification or oversight when people use the terms “All-Natural”, “100% Natural”, or “Organic Practices” when it comes to extraction.  This means that companies with these claims on their labels or their website are able to use GMOs, pesticides and other toxic materials for growing or extraction (which we covered in our article about where your hemp is grown)..  These are used as keywords to make it seem as though the company manufacturing these products are focused on quality of their sources and manufacturing, but in reality most companies are not adhering to any of these practices.

“Made with Organic Ingredients”

“Made With Organic Ingredients” is an important distinction, if it is indeed certified this way, then that of a label just claiming “Organic Practices” or “Naturally Grown.”  Products that are certified and are truly made with organic ingredients must have at least 70% of the ingredients certified organic.  While these products are much better than just “Naturally Grown”, when it comes to CBD products there are still issues.  Since CBD constitutes so little amount of the total weight of the product. CBD oil, for example, could have organic MCT oil, but the CBD is derived from isolate which is made using harsh solvents, and could be grown with pesticides, and since the CBD is less than 30% of the weight the product, it can still be considered “Made with Organic Ingredients”.

USDA Organic Certified CBD Products

USDA Organic Certified is the gold standard for the hemp industry and any industry with something that comes from the earth or an animal.  On the contrary to “Organic Practices” or “All-Natural”, USDA Organic standards are much more rigorous.  It starts with where the seed is sourced fand if it is GMO or not.  Then, it goes into where and how it is grown.  The fields have to have not had any pesticides in 3 years  and a non-organic crop can not have been planted there for 3 years.  We are not able to use any pesticides to grow our hemp, only natural ways of treating weeds and we have to rotate cover crops to ensure that we are as natural as possible while continuing to nourish the soil, because we can’t just add a bunch of soil additives without proper justification.   The growing of hemp to USDA standards is far and above anything else about every little facet of how the plant is cultivated and that in of itself differentiates a better quality plant.

For USDA Organic Certified CBD standards for handling (extraction), there are a lot of standards that need to be met. This includes specifications for how the plant is processed, with what specific equipment and ingredients are used during processing, and continual record keeping, testing, and standards for recall and quality control.  That is why when we were certified USDA Organic for both our hemp and our extraction of it, we became one of only a few companies in the country with that distinction.

CBD has the potential to do many things, and products that are “All-Natural” or “Made with Organic Ingredients” can still possibly provide benefits. But just like the fruit and vegetables you eat, it is the utmost importance how that plant was grown and cultivated from the time that it was a seed until it ends up in a finished product that you are using.  The only way to have a guarantee to the quality is looking for a product that has a USDA Organic certification on it.