Pesticides in Oils and Extracts
Pesticides in Cooking Oils and Extracts
From olive oil to coconut extract, we analyzed 12 of the most commonly used oils and extracts for residual pesticides. Of the 12, four failed our analyses- including (not surprisingly) all of our citrus extracts (find out why in PART 1 of our case study).
Fruit and vegetable extracts, like cannabis extracts, are created by concentrating parts of the raw material using solvents such as ethanol, methanol or water. Pulps and sugars are removed to preserve the flavors and aromas of the fruit, making it easier to incorporate into baked goods and candies.
However, flavors and aromas aren’t the only elements being concentrated. If there are residual chemicals present on the raw material before extraction, those chemicals can become concentrated during the extraction process, resulting in an end product with even higher levels of contaminants than what it started with. The same applies for cannabis- if a trim sample passes a pesticide analysis but fails after the extraction process, it may be because pesticides that weren’t detected or were detected in non-failing amounts prior now make up a larger percentage of the product.
Our “Failing” Oils and Extracts
Olive Oil
Olive oil is produced by grinding olives and extracting the oil by mechanical or chemical means. Our sample of extra virgin olive oil was produced using pure, cold pressed olives and zero chemicals to refine it during the extraction process. However, the oil contained trace amounts (beneath our level of quantification) of chlorpyrifos, a category I pesticide banned in cannabis and cannabis-derived products.
Although several pesticides are registered in oil-producing countries for use on olive trees, information on the level and rate of residues found in the resulting oils is limited. However, it is clear that fat-soluble pesticides such as chlorpyrifos tend to concentrate during oil production, both after full coverage and bait spraying.
Chlorpyrifos use on olive groves in the United states is prohibited. However, according to the National Consumers League the US only produces about 5% of the world’s olive oil, while it imports 62% of oil from the Mediterranean (Europe, Spain, and North Africa). Europe has different regulations for olive oil production, meaning chemicals such as chlorpyrifos, which is used to control devastating olive fly infestations, may have been used on recent olive harvests. The discrepancies between permitted chemical residues in olive oil have been a long debated topic between the EU and the US, and as of January 31, The Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) voted in favor of two draft Implementing Regulations that denied the renewal of approvals for chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl in the EU. However, the half life of chlorpyrifos residue in soil ranges anywhere from 2 weeks to a year, which suggests contamination is still possible even when use has ceased.
This is just one example of why it’s important for edible manufacturers to note where their raw materials were produced. Regulations differ from country to country – even with random checks made by the United States Customs and Border Protection on imported goods, contaminated products may still be able to pass through ports.
Lemon, Lime, and Orange Extracts
Our citrus extracts sourced from one of the most popular producers of baking additives in the US also failed for chlorpyrifos in amounts below our level of quantification. Category II pesticides fludioxonil, trioxystrobin, and malathion were also detected.
In traditional agriculture, chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides in the United States. Despite being banned for use on olive groves, it is still heavily used on crops such as corn, almonds, and fruit trees.
Chlorpyrifos belongs to a class of organophosphates chemically similar to a nerve gas developed by Nazi Germany before World War II. It’s essentially used as a neurotoxin to paralyze and kill insects, but has been found to disrupt brain development in fetuses and babies and affect reading ability, IQ and hyperactivity in children. A handful of states, such as Hawaii and New York, have prohibited the use of chlorpyrifos-based products, and the Obama administration attempted to phase it out completely. However, that motion was overruled by the Trump administration in 2019.
Due to this pesticide’s popularity and the fact that it isn’t going away anytime soon, edible manufacturers should be encouraged to source their fruits and fruit-derived products from harvests grown in states where chlorpyrifos is banned. These include Hawaii, New York, and, as of February 2020, California, with many states following suit. However, this does not guarantee chlorpyrifos will not be detected in fruits grown in these states as the chemical will take years to break down in the soil.
The other three pesticides we detected were fludioxonil, trifloxystrobin, and malathion. Fludioxonil and trifloxystrobin are both post-harvest treatments used to prevent mold and decay. It’s interesting to note that neither of these pesticides were detected on our citrus fruit samples in Part 1 of this study, leading us to conclude these chemicals were possibly concentrated along with the fruit flavors and aromas during extraction.
Malathion, like chlorpyrifos, is an organophosphate used to control sap-sucking insects. However, it is not commonly used in citrus fruit cultivation. It is entirely possible the grower may have applied the pesticide themself, but malathion is also used in public health mosquito control and fruit fly eradication programs. Depending on where the raw materials for these extracts were sourced (i.e. Florida, California) aerial drops of this chemical by local public health departments may have contaminated the product.
Our “Clean” Oils and Extracts
Coconut Oil and Coconut Extract
Our analysts did not detect any pesticides in our unrefined virgin coconut oil, nor the coconut extract. Although large amounts of post-harvest fungicides are used when transporting coconuts overseas, the coconut’s thick shell prevents the chemicals from leaching into the flesh and water. This study, conducted by Brazil’s Unesp Paulista State University, analyzed 15 coconut samples for 11 different pesticides with results also non-detect for each pesticide. Even when flavors were concentrated, the resulting extract we tested contained no residual pesticides. Generally, organic and conventionally-cultivated coconuts are one-in-the-same once cracked open.
If an edible manufacturer is having issues sourcing clean traditional cooking oils, coconut oil is a great alternative with far less risk of contamination!
Canola Oil and Vegetable Oil 
Our two vegetable-derived oils passed our pesticide analysis with zero analytes detected. However, it’s important to note that this was not a representative sample of every vegetable oil on the market.
Traditional vegetable oil is made by extracting oil from vegetable seeds- typically soybeans- using mechanical or chemical means (just like cannabis oil extraction!). Canola oil is created the same way using rapeseeds.
Conventional soybean cultivation utilizes numerous pesticides and herbicides. However, the three most common pesticides used by US cultivators – (aminomethyl)phosphonic acid, glyphosate, and pyraclostrobin – are not restricted or banned in cannabis products, and therefore not analyzed in our study. The next three most common- malathion, azoxystrobin, and chlorpyrifos- were analyzed, but with only 10% of soybean cultivators utilizing these chemicals we were not able to detect any of the three.
Canola and rapeseed are produced mainly in Canada, China and Western Europe. Production in the U.S. is currently concentrated in the upper Midwest in the Dakotas, however canola has been grown in many states across the U.S. on a limited basis.
The crop – once grown only sparingly to rest soils between grain harvests – must be intensively managed for farmers to attain the high yields they need to maximise profits, and that means high use of pesticides. Historically, farmers relied on neonicotinoids such as thiacloprid (cat. I) and imidacloprid (cat.2) to control pests from devouring their crop, but since 2013 the EU and Canada has banned such pesticides to help preserve bee populations. Growers worldwide are struggling to find a safe and effective alternative, with yields plummeting to a 14-year low in 2019.
Grapeseed Oil
Our grapeseed oil sample contained trace amounts of category II pesticides boscalid, dimethomorph, and trifloxystrobin, at levels low enough to pass our pesticide analysis for cannabis edibles.
Pesticides applied to grape vines before harvest may concentrate in the grape seed due to their high oil solubility. In fact, studies show residue concentrations are higher in grape seed oil and grape seed meal than in the fruit and the marc.
Because grapeseed oil is a by-product of conventional wine grapes, this is especially concerning. According to the California Department of Pesticides Regulation, in 2017 29 million pounds of pesticides were applied to conventionally-grown wine grapes in California. That was a 5.4 percent increase from the year before, and trends indicate that number will continue to rise. While the most common pesticides used in wine cultivation are not restricted in cannabis, 260,000 pounds of category I and II pesticides, including chlorpyrifos, boscalid, and myclobutanil, were still used to treat vineyards in 2016. Conventionally-grown wine grapes received more pesticides than almonds, table grapes, tomatoes or strawberries.
Pure Vanilla Extract
Based on our research and results of this analysis, pure vanilla extract is one less ingredient you’ll have to worry about sourcing in regards to cannabis regulations. Because most vanilla cultivators are independent farmers in third world countries – with 80% of today’s vanilla grown in Madagascar – nearly all natural vanilla is grown without pesticides due to lack of resources and expense.
Pure Almond Extract
Our almond extract also passed the pesticide analysis with no pesticides detected. Contrary to the name, almond oil is not commonly extracted from almonds, a good thing considering almond growers use numerous category I pesticides that could cause a cannabis edible to fail compliance.
Pure almond extract is made from three primary ingredients: alcohol, water, and bitter almond oil. The last is extracted from almonds or (more frequently) their kin, drupes, the botanical term for stone fruits such as peaches and apricots. The almond flavor comes from benzaldehyde, a substance in the kernels of drupes.
Mint Extract
Our mint extract sample contained none of the 66 pesticides we tested for, and we figured it wouldn’t- mint is commonly used as a natural pest deterrent itself. The pesticides that are used to protect mint plants are used sparingly, with only 8,687 pounds used in 2016. Of the 50 most common pesticides used in mint cultivation, only bifenazate- a category II pesticide- was also on the BCC’s list of restricted pesticides in cannabis products.
In our next study, we’ll examine the residual pesticides we found in common essential oils purchased from our local pharmacy. For oils we found in the “alternative medicine” aisle, you may want to think twice about how healing these products really are.
If you have any questions or concerns about the products you’re using to manufacture edibles, please reach out to us so we can help ensure your products make it onto the shelves.
Since ancient times, cannabis connoisseurs have been extracting resin-containing trichomes from the plant to produce traditional hashish. This method of extraction originated in Afghanistan, where producers utilized dry sifting to filter cannabis trichomes- or kief- from the dried plant material by beating a cannabis plant over a series of sieves. The kief was then pressed by hand with the addition of a small quantity of tea or water, and once the hashish was highly elastic it was molded by hand into ‘hash balls’. Before export, these balls were pressed into blocks.
Whatever you decide to call it, all three terms describe the same product- cannabis resin extracted from plant material using very cold water, ice cubes and agitation. Buds or trim are gently stirred by hand or spun using an electric mixer in ice-cold water, causing the trichomes to become hard and brittle and eventually snapping off of the plant. After a short period of mixing, the water is poured through a series of mesh filter bags- often called ‘bubble bags’- with the uppermost having the largest mesh and the lowermost the finest.
Possibly the newest method of solventless extraction popularized in 2015, rosin involves extracting a full-melt oil from flowers or hash using nothing more than heat and pressure. From DIY rosin pressed using hair irons to heavy-duty industrial presses capable of exerting more than 30 tons of pressure for large-scale manufacturers, rosin is the easiest and quickest method to extract precious resin from plant matter while still preserving terpenes.
Using light heat and agitation, rosin can be “whipped” to create budder. Budder has a consistency similar to salve or batter that can be much easier to work with when dabbing, and this technique can significantly increase the aromatic properties found within the terpenoids of the original starting material. Budder can be found in most legal retail dispensaries, but the process can be achieved easily with preexisting rosin by simply stirring it consistently with a warm dabber tool.
BHO is the most common extraction method for commercial manufacturers, utilizing refined, lab-grade butane to create products like honey oil, badder, crumble, sauce, wax, or shatter. Butane is preferred for its non-polarity, allowing efficient separation of non-polar compounds, such as chlorophyll and plant metabolites, from the cannabinoids and terpenes. It also has a low boiling point, which allows extractors to remove the solvent from the extracts without altering any of the cannabinoids or terpenes that were removed from the plant material while ensuring that no residual butane makes it way into the final product.
‘Honey oil’ is the pot culture term for hash oil, named so for it’s honey-like amber color and sticky consistency. This oil is primarily used in the production of shatter and wax, with THC levels upwards of 80 percent.
Shatter is glass-like, brittle extract named for its breakability and is favored for its ease in handling when dabbing. However, the physical texture of individual products range from extremely brittle to taffy-like, depending on the product’s cannabinoid profile. Shatter that’s higher in d9-THC will tend to be more malleable than those containing primarily THCA, which will be more brittle. These concentrates get their translucent, peanut-brittle like structure from their molecular arrangement, with all of its molecules stacked on top of one another like a wall.
Cannabis wax is the soft, opaque golden concentrate made of extracted oils from the cannabis plant. It can have a soft viscous texture (budder) or a slightly firmer but crumbly texture (honeycomb or crumble). Cannabis wax can be an incredibly potent concentrate containing as much as 90 percent THC.
THC sauce is one the newest trends on the market, consisting of pure THCA crystals, or ‘diamonds’, imbued with natural terpenes. BHO derived from a high-quality cannabis strain is left to age and crystallize, resulting in a product with a viscous sauce consistency. Sauce is a high-terpene full-spectrum extract (HTFSE), meaning products consist of around 50 percent THCA and anywhere between 13–40 percent terpenes.
In a jar of sauce left to cure, diamonds are the crystalline structures that form on the sides and bottom of the container. These THCA diamonds may also refer to the crystals left over after the terpene sauce has been removed from the initial sauce mixture- these are usually coated in residual sauce. Diamonds can also be extracted and further processed to become pure, isolated THCA.
Propane Hash Oil (PHO) extraction is a method that uses propane to filter cannabinoids from starting plant material. It works similar to BHO extraction, though most PHO extractions run at slightly lower temperatures with higher pressure than you might use with butane, which can help avoid unwanted residual compounds from the plant material.
CO2 oil is the popular golden-brown liquid commonly used to fill vape pens. Because carbon dioxide is non-toxic and safe for human consumption, choosing Co2 as a solvent for extraction significantly reduces consumer health risks. It also isn’t flammable, making this solvent-based method one of the safest for producers.
