sanatizing cannabis at harvest.

HUGE · Nov 15, 2014

OK in this ever commercializing world of cannabis there is now mandatory testing for alfatoxins and mycotoxin in finished flowers. In huge facilities (lab grade) I have heard of several methods being used to kill spores on bud.

I believe some dutch and cannadian pharma grows irradiate the herb to kill spores. personallyvi don't want nuked weed.

Triq tech has the Vulcan 50 dryer that starts the process with a 80%humidity 146° kill phase. They say THC/cbd and terpenes are unaffected but that sounds hard to believe.

UVC lights. I know they make lights to sanitice surfaces but would it penetrate enough unto bud to matter and would there be any negative effects?

Anyone else have any ideas?

ScrifflyPimp · Nov 16, 2014

HUGE said:
OK in this ever commercializing world of cannabis there is now mandatory testing for alfatoxins

yay

HipsterDoofus · Nov 16, 2014

HUGE said:
I believe some dutch and cannadian pharma grows irradiate the herb to kill spores. personallyvi don't want nuked weed.

What kind of radiation? Gamma ray or electron beam processing?

devilgoob · Nov 16, 2014

They're the same ionizing radiation of UV?

HUGE · Nov 16, 2014

HipsterDoofus said:
What kind of radiation? Gamma ray or electron beam processing?

Not sure, it was in a press release about the medical company in the country, said they "irradiated" the cannabis to ensure no mold spores. That's all I know

Avinash.miles · Nov 16, 2014

How about producing cannabis in a way that doesn't require sanitizing?

HUGE · Nov 16, 2014

Avinash.miles said:
How about producing cannabis in a way that doesn't require sanitizing?

yes this is optimal. I'm just curious about the subject after seeing the vulcan 50 at a trade show this week. it got me thinking.

Avinash.miles · Nov 16, 2014

my point is that IF the industry chooses to grow a product that needs to be CLEANED before going to market....
THEN
the industry has failed us on a broad scale.

this concept is the single greatest reason for EVERYONE to grow your own or have your cannabis grown for you by someone you know well and trust is growing in a responsible manner.

& fwiw
water curing cannabis really does leach out shit in the plant matter
not viable for commercial applications, BUT it actually will "clean" your herb before smoking it. There are a couple good threads about water curing on icmag...

HUGE · Nov 16, 2014

As far as I know this is a fairly standard practice in every major food industry. They pasturize the milk, they irradiate meat, they wash veggies and chicken with bleach. Miles, I get it. I Dont like it either. But I am still curious.

HUGE · Nov 16, 2014

Water curing would I think be the worst treatment possible for mold spores.

PaullyHighBred · Nov 16, 2014

Interesting question,

How does the tobacco industry do it? Do they? Do they even care??? I dunno but probably not...

I think the future of cannabis as medicine is in concentrates that can be homogenized and standardized for concentration and purity. Particularly for immunocompromised patients. Unless you're growing in a micro-filtered vacuum with constant absolute perfect conditions there are bound to be at least some accumulated minute contaminates on your flowers.

xxxstr8edgexxx · Nov 16, 2014

it isn't necessary and it wouldn't get the mold spores out to kill them. i get herb tested at point of sale to dispensaries in oregon. its not that common to fail with heathy herb. its not a zero tolerance its a quantitative threshold. in other words there are spores everywhere and it fails the state standards when it goes over a certain count.

Jhhnn · Nov 16, 2014

xxxstr8edgexxx said:
it isn't necessary and it wouldn't get the mold spores out to kill them. i get herb tested at point of sale to dispensaries in oregon. its not that common to fail with heathy herb. its not a zero tolerance its a quantitative threshold. in other words there are spores everywhere and it fails the state standards when it goes over a certain count.

Proper heat treatment or gamma rays will kill the spores in situ.

How does one test for spores, anyway? Is it chemical reagents or a growth test?

barnyard · Nov 16, 2014

Mostly the UVC light is used for killing bacteria using brief exposure times. For killing spores UVC light exposure time would have to increase significantly.

I don't think the flower would have any residual damage but of course there are safety considerations during application period of UVC light.

xxxstr8edgexxx · Nov 16, 2014

Jhhnn said:
Proper heat treatment or gamma rays will kill the spores in situ.

How does one test for spores, anyway? Is it chemical reagents or a growth test?

That's actually a really good point. In the case of a swab and culture or culturing the dried leaf If you killed the spores it would definitely lower the count. I am guessing that is how they do it in which case I'm wrong you would be benefiting.

Pangea · Nov 16, 2014

Jhhnn said:
Proper heat treatment or gamma rays will kill the spores in situ.

How does one test for spores, anyway? Is it chemical reagents or a growth test?

Plate it out and count the Colony-Forming Units.

Jhhnn · Nov 16, 2014

barnyard said:
Mostly the UVC light is used for killing bacteria using brief exposure times. For killing spores UVC light exposure time would have to increase significantly.

I don't think the flower would have any residual damage but of course there are safety considerations during application period of UVC light.

I don't think UVC would be appropriate, simply because it won't penetrate the material the way that gamma rays will.

I think heat treatment will be a lot more widespread, simply because it costs a lot to set up & operate a gamma ray facility, likely several $M. X-rays will work, too, but it's a very energy inefficient process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation#Process

Jhhnn · Nov 16, 2014

Pangea said:
Plate it out and count the Colony-Forming Units.

Makes sense. Properly irradiated, even heavily infested bud would pass, because the kill rate is very, very near 100%.

HUGE · Nov 16, 2014

Has Anyone actually seen the Vulcan 50 operating. Or tried product from it?

Avinash.miles · Nov 17, 2014

HUGE said:
As far as I know this is a fairly standard practice in every major food industry. They pasturize the milk, they irradiate meat, they wash veggies and chicken with bleach. Miles, I get it. I Dont like it either. But I am still curious.

I'd be curious as well, but from a point of self-preservation rather than that of emulation....

just be careful that what may become "industry standard" does not neccessarily become what people consider to be "a good way to do it".

my point is that IF herb NEEDS irradiating (or the like), it probably should not be smoked or extracted from at all.

sanatizing cannabis at harvest.

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