Sponsored by:

Complimentary Virtual Conference

April 19, 2023
12:00 Noon - 4:00 PM ET

Infused Products Virtual Conference

This complimentary virtual conference consists of 4 back-to-back webinars, all on the same day. We will delve into topics such as GMPs, nano emulsion, culinary science, food safety for edibles and more.

In a number of states across the country, edibles, topicals, beverages and other infused products are taking up a larger percentage of the market share. They come in all shapes and sizes- from granola bars to lotions, lubricant and scented candles; manufacturers are infusing a wide variety of products with cannabis, creating a market that meets a larger consumer demographic.

Different states have different rules when it comes to product safety. Some states require ServSafe training and local health inspections, while others have more stringent lab testing rules, require documented GMPs and even a form of certification demonstrating proper food safety protocols.

State regulations shouldn’t be the reason why infused products manufacturers have robust safety and quality standards, consumer safety is. Getting ahead of regulations with proactive safety and quality planning can improve a business’s bottom line tremendously. There are a number of tools and tricks cannabis companies can learn from the food industry to streamline their businesses and gain a bigger chunk of the market share.

Who Should Attend:

Infused products and edibles manufacturers-owners
Managers, Directors of Operations, Compliance and Quality
Investors or stakeholders of infused products companies
Dispensary owners, managers and staff
Extractors, processors and distributors

Agenda

12:00 PM - Welcome & Introductions
Aaron Biros, Editor, CannabisIndustryJournal.com - Host and Moderator

12:05 PM - Beyond GMPs: Assessing Hazards at Your Facility
Dr. Kathy Knutson, Principal, Kathy Knutson Food Safety Consulting LLC

Have you implemented GMPS? Do you have a quality management system headed by a dedicated Quality Manager? Yes! Great! Then you know that quality management is never done, and you desire continuous improvement. The cannabis industry will always have Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) along with Good Agricultural Practices, Good Laboratory Practices, and Good Distribution Practices from seed to sale. Beyond GMPs is the writing and implementing of a hazard analysis, preventive controls, and a recall plan for the manufacture of edibles. It’s what the food industry does in writing a food safety plan, and the cannabis-infused edibles industry is expected to do the same with an edible safety plan. As the cannabis industry continues to lead ahead of federal regulation, assessing hazards at your facility is the next step. This presentation will introduce you to the importance of a hazard analysis and prepare you to perform a hazard analysis of processing steps.

12:55 PM - Sponsored TechTalk
TBA

1:10 PM - How to Create a Bulletproof Food Safety Plan: Supplier Controls & Other Preventative Strategies
Matt Regusci, Technical Director, CSQ

Food safety is the bare minimum in a quality and safety program for plant touching businesses in cannabis, and yet it is constantly being overlooked. One important element of a food safety plan in this industry is implementing proper supplier controls, considering whether your suppliers and/or Contract Manufacturers are including a 2nd or 3rd party auditing program in their standardization of processes. This is a crucial step for MSOs, because although brands aim to do everything they can to ensure the product remains consistent across borders, there’s no guarantee that each manufacturing facility will adhere to the same Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) as in your own facility. Why does this matter? At the end of the day, if your company has to undergo a recall due to a mishap in one of the partner facilities, this reflects badly on the entire brand, not the individual facility. According to long-time food safety expert Matt Regusci, when it comes to navigating safety & quality- quality is a mere strategy, but food safety is a requirement. During this discussion, Regusci will share insights to help brands craft a food safety plan, while keeping the entire supply chain in mind.

2:00 PM - Sponsored Tech Talk
TBA

2:15 PM - Mitigating Potency Loss in Cannabis Infused Beverages
Dr. Harold Han, Chief Science Officer & Co-Founder, Vertosa

THC and CBD are prone to losing potency when infused into beverages, leading to unknown cannabinoid concentrations and thus unpredictable effects for the end user -- in other words, a brands’ worst nightmare. In this session, Harold will discuss the drivers behind scalping through packaging and oxidation reactions in the manufacturing process for cannabis-infused beverages. He will reference Vertosa’s studies on how antioxidants and the materials used to fabricate can liners affect cannabinoid potency over time, outlining the materials and additives most effective at mitigating cannabinoid potency loss holistically for longer shelf-life. Harold will end the session by explaining why consistent, stable products are vital in ensuring consumer safety and building a responsible cannabis industry.

3:00 pm - Wrap up

SPEAKERS

Dr. Kathy Knutsen
Principal
Kathy Knutson Food Safety Consulting LLC

Dr. Knutson is educated in Bacteriology, Food Science, and Education. She speaks, writes, and trains on FDA FSMA compliance. She has trained over 500 Preventive Controls Qualified Individuals-PCQIs. She works with managers to write a thorough hazard analysis, food safety plan, recall plan, environmental monitoring program, and allergen program. In 2020 her book was published, Food Safety Lessons for Cannabis-Infused Edibles. She serves as the Chair of the Education Committee of the National Cannabis Industry Association. Dr. Knutson travels to manufacturers for swabbing to locate a pathogen during a recall investigation and for gap assessments of GMPs for cannabis-infused edibles. Learn more on her LinkedIn profile. Dr. Knutson published a four-part series on hazard analysis in Cannabis Industry Journal.

Matt Regusci
Technical Director
CSQ

As a father of 9, Matt Regusci understands the value of safe quality product and has made it his life’s mission to provide compliance transparency within the world’s supply chain. Regusci comes from an extensive background in the auditing world. He co-founded Azzule, an online compliance supply chain data management company, which is the parent company of PrimusGFS, a GFSI food safety standard. After Azzule, Regusci became an owner at WQS, a certification body that does thousands of audits annually across the Western Hemisphere. As the Chief Relationship Officer at RizePoint, his primary focus was all about finding the right quality management system solutions for quality, safety, and compliance professionals. Regusci later stepped in as the Director of Growth and Public Relations at ASI, one of the largest food safety providers in North America. Regusci assisted in preparing and managing ASI’s merger with Kiwa Group, catapulting the family-owned company to a successful future. Today, he’s the Technical Director of Cannabis Safety & Quality (CSQ), the first cannabis certification program to meet GFSI Benchmarking Requirements (set to be benchmarked in 2023) in addition to ISO Requirements and regulatory requirements from seed to sale.

Dr. Harold Han
Chief Science Office & Co-Founder
Vertosa

As the CSO and co-founder of Vertosa, Dr. Harold Han spearheads the development of industry-leading, customized active ingredients for infused product makers, offering pre-suspended aqueous solutions to create incredibly homogeneous, stable products while maximizing bioavailability, clarity, and taste. His work at Vertosa combines his storied background in emulsion chemistry and science with curiosity and fascination in the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Developing nano and micro emulsions his entire career, Harold holds a Ph.D. in Surface Chemistry from NYU and is the author of two patents in emulsion chemistry. Before founding Vertosa, Harold was the senior emulsion scientist at Bio-Rad Laboratories, where his team scaled emulsification oil and supplied products to over 90 countries.

Aaron Biros
Editor-in-Chief
Cannabis Industry Journal.com

Aaron Biros is the Editor-in-Chief of Cannabis Industry Journal.com (CIJ), an online business-to-business trade journal focused on the legal cannabis industry. Biros started CIJ in 2015 when he officially joined Innovative Publishing full time. Through editorial coverage of the cannabis markets, Biros has developed a familiarity with regulatory compliance, quality and safety issues as they relate to the burgeoning cannabis industry. Biros covers science and technology updates, breaking news, regulations and emerging markets from his office based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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