Ten percent of what you paid for that flower from a California delivery goes to testing. And the most expensive part of that safety measure? Getting rid of bud that doesn’t meet state standards, according to a study released Thursday.
UC Davis
- The state’s low- or zero-tolerance standards for pesticide residues are the cause of most testing failures. Labs have reported variation in test results of up to 10% from the same sample.
- “Testing itself is costly,” says study author Dan Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis. “But growers have to destroy the product that doesn’t pass the test, and that is where the biggest losses occur.”
