In the past few years, people have become increasingly concerned with how their food is grown. They no longer want consumables grown with pesticides, or harmful chemicals. They have instead opted for foods that are USDA Certified Organic.
Now even CBD can be made adhering to the USDA Certified Organic standards. Up until recently, USDA organic hemp was not widely available and therefore it was hard to certify CBD as organic. It is a long and difficult process to obtain USDA certification, but it is worthwhile because it offers customers the assurance of safety and quality. Companies that do gain certification are sure to stand out among the rest.
How the laws have changed
Hemp imported from outside the U.S has always been able to receive USDA certification. In the U.S. hemp and CBD only became legal to grow nationwide with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. This allowed companies to start pursuing USDA Organic status.
Until that point, most companies had to be part of pilot programs in order to grow hemp. Therefore many weren’t able to participate, even though the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill authorized hemp to receive USDA Organic certification. In January 2016, the first company was able to receive this certification and seven other companies followed suit and received certification. Then laws changed again in February 2016 so third-parties were no longer able to investigate and certify hemp companies. Later the same year, the USDA tightened regulations and only allowed hemp grown through state pilot programs to receive the certification. The fact that the flower wasn’t considered part of the definition of industrial hemp made it even harder to gain certification. The flower is the part of the plant with the highest concentration of alkaloids.
Thankfully in 2018 hemp became a federally legal crop and many of the restrictions were loosened. Hemp is now no longer considered a controlled substance. This allowed a group of companies to begin the certification process. Beni Bush is actually one such company. Check out our organic products here.
High standards
The certification is still difficult to obtain so there are only a few CBD companies that sell USDA Certified Organic CBD. CBD hemp is rated in four different categories. They are as follows; hemp farming and organic certification, processing, testing/auditing and transparency.
Here at Beni-Bush we strive to excel in all categories. All of our CBD oil is USDA Certified Organic.
The process to obtain USDA Organic status can be rigorous. For CBD it means adhering to certain processes and using only other USDA organic ingredients. We do not use any fertilizers, growth hormones or pesticides on the hemp. We utilize sustainable farming practices that improve the conditions of the soil and prevent soil erosion. After the hemp is grown, we are only permitted to use certain types of extraction processes such as CO2 extraction and lipid extraction.
Although this process may be difficult, we believe that it is well worth it. At Beni Bush, we took the extra step to ensure that our customers receive a quality product. The USDA Certified Organic seal is one of the most commonly recognized seals among consumers. It tells customers that these products are safe and sustainable. We are proud to be one of the few CBD companies with this certification.
