Top Cannabis Flavor Company Becomes First to Set International Quality Benchmark for Terpene Blend Manufacturing


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True Terpenes recognizes the importance of food safety throughout the food supply chain at all stages: sourcing, storage, handling, processing, packaging, and distribution.

“There just isn’t a better way to keep tainted or mal-intended products off the market. We’ve seen time and again, product bans and regulatory gaps further empower the illicit market. It’s not fair to consumers or the many companies who are creating good, clean products.”

By implementing world-class safety and quality systems, True Terpenes becomes the only botanical terpene supply company to earn the coveted ISO 9001:2015 and FSSC 22000 certifications. True Terpenes is also third party GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) audited, recently garnering a score of 97 percent. This comes as a needed win for an industry struggling with ongoing quality and consumer safety issues. It may also help set the bar for regulations to come.

“This is all in alignment with our goal of becoming the most trusted supplier in the cannabis industry. It also has opened the door to work with large non-cannabis companies that are interested in the cannabis angle but require high-level supply chain control,” says True Terpenes CEO, Chris Campagna.

True Terpenes is a Portland, Oregon based company that specializes in providing custom terpene-based aromatic flavors. It currently supplies its flavor-meets-function ingredients to brands in cannabis, food, beverage, wellness, alcohol and beyond. The company is best known for their Precision Strain Profiles which replicate the taste, aroma and effects of cannabis utilizing terpenes from other botanicals such as lavender (Linalool), hops (Beta-Caryophyllene) or pine (Alpha Pinene). This allows craft product developers to bring the essence and effect of beloved cannabis strains such as OG Kush to non-THC goods such as a seltzers, topicals or even beer.

“If THC and CBD are the gas pedal powering the entourage effect, terpenes would be the steering wheel directing where you go. We’re excited to guide businesses along their terpene journey.” says True Terpenes Marketing Director Benjamin Disinger.

While food safety/defense plans , quality assurance departments and external audits are commonplace in the alcohol and food industries, the cannabis industry has a lot of catching up to do. Due to the illegal nature of cannabis at a federal level, there is little to no federal oversight on issues such as safety testing, product traceability and GMP controlled manufacturing processes. It’s the type of environment where substandard suppliers and manufacturers can thrive.

True Terpenes believes the answer to the current health crisis is to implement existing regulations that help assure our food, supplements and medications are safe for consumption. True Terpenes has invested heavily in this belief. As is the case with other major industries, they were required to pass multiple, rigorous third-party audits to verify their procedures, methods and CCP (Critical Control Points) measures are put into practice every day. As such, the company will also be subject to surveillance audits to prove it is maintaining its quality promise.

“Following these standards means taking required steps to provide high quality products, free of any known allergens or other possible contamination. We’ve implemented food safety and recall plans including HACCP and are able to trace any product from a single bottle to a bulk raw material. Employees are properly trained on Food Defense, GMP and standard operating procedures to ensure the integrity, safety and quality of our products,” says True Terpenes Chief Compliance Officer Alesya Bradley.

All True Terpenes products come with SDS (Safety Data Sheets), COA (Certificates of Analysis) and have been tested to exceed the varying standards in the state cannabis markets. They call this integrated plan True Grade™. Even catching the interest of the FDA which requested more information on how the company designed and implemented its True Grade™ safety program when Chief Science Officer David Heldreth spoke at the FDA cannabis hearing earlier this year.

“Several states are looking to make changes to their cannabis and other flavoring laws due to the current outbreak. True Terpenes supports these efforts to increase regulations and oversight of ingredients used in the cannabis and food industries,” says True Terpenes CSO David Heldreth.

True Terpenes is actively working with state regulators to convince them on the importance of adopting quality manufacturing benchmarks such as GMP.

“There just isn’t a better way to keep tainted or mal-intended products off the market. We’ve seen time and again, product bans and regulatory gaps further empower the illicit market. It’s not fair to consumers or the many companies who are creating good, clean products,” says True Terpenes COO David McLean.

True Terpenes ships its specialty flavors worldwide. The company is counting on the universal language of quality and innovation to continue its growth.

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