Irradiation is the most common technique used by licensed producers when they need to sterilize dried cannabis before mandatory product testing and packaging, but companies claiming sterilization techniques that result in higher-quality flower are now nudging into the industry.
Cannabis sterilization is required before sale, when naturally occurring contaminants such as mould or aphid eggs develop during production and drying. Below are two alternative sterilization techniques that have historically been used for medical products and water purification, and are claimed to have notably less impact on product quality.
TheBOX
TheBOX, which is made by PuroGen Botanics, LLC and distributed by GreenBroz Inc., is an organic mould remediation technology that has been used for more than 20 years to sterilize medical instruments and human tissue in preparation for surgical transplants. The terminal sterilization system has been resized for commercial cannabis and uses a reactive oxygen process. Dried cannabis is placed in bags and penetrated with a vacuum system that causes the vapour to pass through the flower, sterilizing it throughout.
“It does not affect the terpene profile or the cannabinoid profile. Product will come out of this smoking smoother,” said Lisa Keyser, sales manager for GreenBroz.
It sells for US$125,000, Ms. Keyser said.
PuroGen Botanics, LLC’s TheBOX sterilizer with bags of dried hemp buds inside at MJBizCon in Las Vegas on December 19, 2019.
“Everybody has an issue with remediation at some point,” she said, adding that TheBOX has been sold to cannabis producers in the United States since 2018 but has not yet been delivered to growers in Canada.
TheBOX has a couple other features for cannabis products. It can infuse products such as pre-rolls with terpenes and also has the ability to hydrate the product if needed.
CannaPure Ozone Technologies
CannaPure Ozone Technologies has also customized a sterilization treatment for cannabis, but this one uses ozone-based vapour decontamination.
“It’s going to naturally kill off viruses, bacteria, mould and aphid eggs,” said Philip Gencher, director of marketing and business development for CannaPure.
“This is in place of irradiation.”
Dried flower is placed on trays and treated with an ozonated fog that blows inside the US$80,000 piece of equipment, which the company said can treat up to 10 pounds of flower or trim within four hours.
The company, which said the process does not reduce terpene levels, has been selling its custom-sized decontamination device to cannabis producers since 2016.
CannaPure also sells a portable ozonated water sanitation device that is designed to decontaminate cannabis production rooms between crops as an alternative to chlorine, bleach and alcohol. The water system is mobile in the form of a cart and sells for US$9,000.