How to Identify Reputable CBD Brands and Products
Since CBD’s rise in popularity, a vast array of brands and products have flooded the market. While it’s nice to have options, they can make it difficult for you to pick out a quality product from a trusted and reputable brand.
CBD is still a relatively unregulated market and there are a lot of low-quality products and scam-artists looking to make a quick buck off unassuming customers. Though with a little research, finding a trustworthy brand that sells a quality product is easy.
By keeping the below factors in mind, you’ll have no trouble finding a reputable CBD brand that offers top-quality CBD oil products.
Brand Appearance and Reputation
Before even looking at a CBD company’s products, you should first make sure they are trustworthy and legit. To do this, first, take a look at their website and see if you can find the following:
- An Address – A reputable CBD brand will provide a physical address
- Contact Info – It should be easy to find an email address and phone number that you can use to reach out to the brand if any issues come up with your order.
- Good Pictures – Stock photos are a red flag. Look for a brand that’s taken the time to photograph their products and presents them well. Photos of brand staff are a bonus.
If everything looks good on their website, try to do a search on Google for reviews and testimonials about the brand and its products. There are plenty of websites where customers leave reviews on many of the leading CBD brands, which makes it easy to pick out the most reputable brands from the bad ones.
The Ingredient Label
Just as when you shop for food, it’s a good idea to review the ingredient label to make sure there are as few ingredients as possible.
At its most basic, CBD oil contains a CBD extract and a carrier oil, such as coconut or MCT oil. Added ingredients to watch for include:
- Propylene glycol
- Hemp seed oil (this is different than hemp oil)
- Artificial flavorings
While not “bad” per se, these ingredients can be used to cut costs or mask an inferior product.
Certificate of Analysis (COA)
Perhaps most importantly of all, when looking for a quality CBD product, is to seek out and read the Certificate of Analysis (COA), or lab report, for the product in question. A COA tells you what is in the CBD oil you’re looking at, making it easy to verify the accuracy of the product label. If you cannot find a COA, move on.
Some things to look at on a COA are:
- Check to make sure that the COA was completed recently, preferably within the past 6 months
- Verify the numbers on the product label much up with what the COA says. If the product claims to contain 1000mg of CBD, the COA should back this up
- Make sure the lab that produced the COA is accredited and ideally has an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) logo, the standard governing body for analyzing CBD products
- Check that the product passes all contamination checks, including for heavy metals and microbial contaminants
Any CBD brand worth your time knows the value of a COA and will feature it prominently in their product listing. You really shouldn’t have to ask for these.
Hemp Sourcing
Last, but not least, is to check where the hemp was grown. It’s best to choose a CBD product that’s made with CBD oil extracted from hemp grown in the United States. States such as Colorado and Oregon have well-developed hemp programs and conduct regular spot-tests of hemp plants while they’re still being grown, to verify they meet national guidelines for THC content and pesticide use.
Not all brands will have this information readily available on their website, though they’re usually more than willing to provide it to you if you reach out via email or phone call.
Wrapping Up
If you keep the above in mind, you should not have any problems finding a reputable CBD brand that sells quality products. The bad actors are easy to pick out, and there are enough trustworthy companies out there that make shopping for quality CBD products easier than ever.