Cannabis, Hemp, and CBD Products: HMTc Program Manual

Scope and method

This manual states how Category 25 Cannabis, Hemp, and CBD Products is certified for metal safety. It does not certify efficacy, legality, or approval status. Inorganic arsenic is capped at total arsenic and tested on the program retest schedule. It does not carry a separate number, and it never replaces the parent. Methylmercury is capped at total mercury and tested on the program retest schedule. It does not carry a separate number, and it never replaces the parent. Hexavalent chromium is capped at total chromium and tested on the program retest schedule. It does not carry a separate number, and it never replaces the parent. Every figure in the matrix is read from the live standard record. Nothing in this manual invents a ceiling.

Method: government-limit default (Method v2.0). Why Method v1 was retired is on the method page. The six live standards remain the derivation of each cell. A product is certified only at or below 100% of every published ceiling. The v1 PDF carries the program rules and the standards register, including each house DOI.

Master limit matrix

All values are ppb (µg/kg), in the row's basis. Click any subcategory for its derivation. A dash is a species capped at its parent total (inorganic arsenic at total arsenic, methylmercury at total mercury, hexavalent chromium at total chromium) and tested on the program retest schedule. It is not an empty cell and not an invented number.

Subcategory	Pb	Cd	tAs	iAs	Hg	MeHg	Ni	Sn	Al	Cr	Cr-VI	Basis
Cannabis flower and dried herb	500	200	200	—	100	—	800	250000	100000	600	—	as sold
Cannabis edibles	500	500	500	—	100	—	800	250000	100000	1100000	—	as sold
Cannabis tinctures and sublingual oils	500	500	500	—	100	—	800	250000	100000	1100000	—	as sold
Cannabis topicals	500	500	500	—	100	—	800	250000	100000	1100000	—	as sold
Cannabis concentrates and extracts	500	500	500	—	100	—	800	250000	100000	600	—	as sold
Cannabis vape cartridge fill (vape oil)	500	200	200	—	100	—	800	250000	100000	600	—	as sold

Every claim analyte is equal at the gate. A product is certified only when every published limit is met at or below 100% of its government floor or disclosed read-across. An exceedance on any metal enters Remediation and carries no mark.

Risk Flag

Certification is decided on the product's own tested lot against the published ceiling. The limit is that ceiling on the live standard. Occurrence data do not set it. An individual lot can still exceed a limit.

See the cross-category summary.

About this edition

Standards are living, versioned documents; each subcategory page carries its own version history and dated change log. This is the current web edition. The Manual v1 PDF is downloadable from the rail. Its program text and standards register match this page. The live subcategory pages remain the derivation of each cell. The manual DOI is not deposited yet.

The literature baseline underlying these certification limits is maintained independently at the Heavy Metal Index. This certification standard applies those findings; the two are kept editorially separate by design.