Yakima marijuana lab stresses quality control

YAKIMA — There’s an unmistakable, hops-like aroma of marijuana at the Analytical 360 laboratory in downtown Yakima.

A technician in one room listens to reggae music while poking marijuana buds with tweezers; meanwhile a worker in another lab room studies spores in petri dishes to the sound of a Grateful Dead concert recorded in Oakland in 1987.

But the aroma and laid-back sound belie the cutting-edge work going on at a laboratory that prides itself as one of the strictest and most thorough in the state for testing marijuana products for the state’s new recreational market. While producers, processors and retailers face their own challenges in developing a sustainable business model, labs such as the one in Yakima are at the forefront of a new quality control industry that’s intended to inform consumers and protect them from harmful chemicals and microbes in the product.

“The worst thing that could happen is someone gets sick from using this,” lab technician Randall Oliver said.

There are 12 labs licensed to test recreational marijuana in the state. Analytical 360’s lab is one of just four east of the Cascades.

The lab has grown from two employees when it opened in June to seven, who process more than 1,300 samples a month from about 100 clients. The company also has a lab in Seattle that tests medical marijuana products and has hundreds more clients there, Ed Stremlow, Analytical 360’s chief operating officer, said.

In addition to testing marijuana, they also test hops, which are a not-so-distant relative of the marijuana plant. The downtown Yakima lab is located in a building that for years was home to the John I. Haas hops company, and uses the same lab facilities that company used to test the quality of its hops.

Nearly 10 percent of all marijuana flowers tested for microbes such as bacteria and fungi fail their lab tests, according to data from the state Liquor Control Board. If a sample fails, it’s tested again. If the retested sample fails again, the entire 5-pound lot it comes from cannot be sold in stores.

All testing samples are destroyed after the tests; none of the samples are returned.

Analytical 360’s Yakima lab gives failing marks for microbes in about 18 percent of the samples it receives, meaning the batch they came from can’t be sold, Stremlow said. He attributes that to having some of the strictest standards in the state.

“I’ve heard one lab say they’ve had no failures on the recreational market, which I find impossible,” Stremlow said. “We want everybody to pass because they’re not happy with us when they don’t, but like most labs, we want to give true and accurate results.”

If they don’t, the lab itself could reap the liability. Liquor Control Board spokesman Brian Smith said the agency is planning to test some of the product from stores and see if further testing compares to lab results for the batch.

There are any number of potential contaminants the labs look for, from molds and bacteria to foreign substances such as ethanol and butane, which are used in making hash oil, and wax used for vaporizers that can cause health problems if consumed. Some of Analytical 360’s clients got their start in the black market, where they grew for years. Those customers, despite producing a highly potent product, weren’t expecting potential contamination.

“It’s been kind of a rude awakening for some people,” Analytical 360 lab director Laura Taubner said.

Some of the state’s 12 labs have also reported concentrations of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, above and beyond any percentages ever recorded previously. The average THC level is nearly 16 percent according to tests done at state labs, Smith said, but some have reported percentages in the high 30s.

“It’s something we’ll be following up with,” Smith said. He added only about 2.45 percent of marijuana samples tested higher than 28 percent THC.

It’s not powerful highs that are of concern, but whether those results are actually inaccurate and allowed to be used to promote the product. Oliver said any samples that test greater than 30 percent or less than 5 percent THC are put aside for additional testing.

“It makes us all look bad if someone accepts a result like that without retesting it,” Oliver said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.