Week after week, we continue to hear about cannabis products being pulled from the shelves of dispensaries after random testing shows issues with mold, mildew, fungus, and many other hops latent viroid’s. These are products that tested clean when processed, but soon after being placed into various packaging containers and sealed, dormant pathogens begin to come to life.
Cannabis, like any agricultural product, is susceptible to contamination during various stages of cultivation, processing, and packaging. Even when proving clean during testing, once cannabis is packaged and sealed, even a small amount of moisture content or residual contamination can serve as a good breeding ground for dormant microbes to come to life.
A Better Way to Package
If you think about how cannabis used to be sold (when it was still illegal), there wasn’t much attention paid to the packaging except for making it as inconspicuous as possible. The variety of packaging products used in the cannabis industry today, however, is no different than the packaging used throughout the food industry.
Anyone who has ever visited a cannabis dispensary has seen, even marveled at, the array of products and their various forms of packaging. From intricate glass bottles to elaborate plastic wraps, bags of all sizes, tubes, and a seemingly endless supply of vape cartridges.
Good packaging not only protects what goes in it, but it’s also key to growing your business. But a package has to be pretty and eye-catching, as well as useful. The purpose of packaging should be to protect the cannabis product and preserve what is inside to provide a clean, safe product for whenever the consumer is ready to use it.
A Revolutionary New Approach
Packaging is the final step before consumers purchase any cannabis product and even the best approaches to processing and drying cannabis have the potential to allow pathogens to get through and become a problem.
With so much emphasis on the post-harvest issues with mold, mildew, and other forms of contamination, the focus now needs to shift to providing an environment that not only protects the product but allows the contents to last longer.
For that reason, cannabis packaging needs to be reimagined and new approaches used for protection of the products that go inside is needed.
Biotrexx 247 is a revolutionary new antimicrobial product that is EPA and FDA approved and can be used as a pre-treatment and coating on packaging products before processed cannabis is introduced to keep pathogens at bay.
The effectiveness of Biotrexx 247 in inhibiting microbial growth lies in its unique active ingredient, which is a colorless, odorless, positively charged polymer that chemically bonds to the treated surface of the packaging. Think of it as a layer of electrically charged swords that stay on the surfaces of any packaging products for extended periods of time.
Our internal studies have demonstrated that Biotrexx 247 is compatible with various types of packaging materials commonly used in the cannabis industry, including glass, paper, plastic, and metal. A lot of cannabis packaging material is thick, and a huge benefit of Biotrexx 247 is its unparalleled ability to bond to these thicker materials.
Recycle, Reuse, Save The Environment
Sustainability has also become a trend across the cannabis industry. To address environmental concerns, there is a growing push to adopt sustainable packaging for cannabis products. Companies with an eye toward the future are introducing advanced packaging technologies that are leading the way with eco-friendly options like recyclable or compostable materials.
For recyclable products, an opportunity exists for the treatment of packaging products when manufactured as well as during the recycling process, providing an end-to-end solution for consumer safety and a way to protect the environment.
A Boost For The Cannabis Industry
With the potential for growers and processors to unknowingly introduce pathogens into products that are packaged for resale, and dispensaries ultimately become the victim of these issues, packaging companies are now in a unique position to provide the solution.
With packaging companies pretreating their products, they are effectively reducing the potential for mold, mildew, fungus, and other harmful pathogens, even if unknowingly introduced during growing and processing. As a result, dispensaries can now feel more confident that what is put on the shelves will remain clean and consumers no longer need to worry about potential health issues.
It is a major win for everyone and a great step forward for the cannabis industry.
Conclusion
Technology within the cannabis industry isn’t an end in itself: after all, the most important part of the effort is the health and cleanliness of the plants themselves. But technology can change the evolution of the industry in ways that make it more interesting for everyone, from the growers to the processors of products, to the dispensary owners and the consumers.
As the industry continues to evolve and expand its horizons, we can anticipate innovations that will shape the landscape and set benchmarks for cannabis packaging. With packaging companies taking the lead and showing the industry that it can be better and safer, hopefully others in the industry, from growers to processors, will see that change is inevitable and needed and adopting new and better ways will allow this industry to continue to grow while saving money with fewer issues.