Resources

• COA (certificate of analysis)
  The document a testing laboratory issues for one tested sample: what was tested, by whom, which panels were run, each analyte’s result, and usually an overall pass or fail. It describes one batch, not a product line.
• Batch / lot
  The specific production run the sample was drawn from. Test results apply to the batch on the certificate, not to other units of the same product name.
• Panel
  One category of testing: cannabinoids, pesticides, heavy metals, microbials, mycotoxins, residual solvents, terpenes, moisture content, water activity, foreign matter or homogeneity. States differ on which panels are required for which product types.
• Analyte
  One specific substance a panel measures, such as a single pesticide or a single cannabinoid. A pesticide panel is a list of analytes, each with its own result and limit.
• Not detected (ND)
  The analyte was screened for and no amount was found at or above the laboratory’s limit of detection. ND is not the same as zero; any amount present is below what the method can see.
• LOD (limit of detection)
  The smallest amount of an analyte the method can reliably detect. Below this, the result reads ND.
• LOQ (limit of quantitation)
  The smallest amount the method can reliably put a number on. Between the LOD and the LOQ, a lab knows the analyte is present but cannot quantify it.
• Below quantitation limit (BLOQ, often printed as <LOQ)
  The analyte was detected, but at an amount below the limit of quantitation, too small for the laboratory to report a reliable number. This site records such results as below the quantitation limit rather than inventing a number.
• Action level / limit
  The regulator’s maximum allowed amount for an analyte in that product type. A result above the action level fails that analyte, and a failed analyte fails the batch. Limits differ between states and between inhalable and ingestible products.
• Any amount (zero tolerance)
  The strictest limit a state imposes: any detectable amount of the analyte is a failure. California applies it to its Category I pesticides, and certificates print it as “Any amt”.
• Not reported (NR)
  The analyte is part of the panel, but the certificate prints no result for it. This site keeps NR as its own outcome rather than guessing a value or treating it as not detected.
• Not tested (NT)
  The panel or analyte was not run on this sample at all, usually printed as “NT” or “N/A”. Common on informational certificates and on panels a state does not require for that product type.
• Pass / fail (compliance verdict)
  The lab’s overall determination that the batch meets, or does not meet, the state’s limits for every required panel. Compliance certificates carry one; informational certificates do not.
• Informational panel (R&D certificate)
  Testing a brand commissioned outside the compliance pathway, often for hemp products or product development. It reports measurements but makes no pass or fail claim, and this index never counts one as a failure.
• Total THC
  THC’s delta-9 content plus its acid form (THCA) adjusted for decarboxylation, usually computed as delta-9 THC + 0.877 × THCA. Labs compute it from the individual cannabinoid results rather than measuring it separately.
• Potency
  The cannabinoid panel: how much THC, CBD and related compounds the sample contains, as percentages for flower and concentrates or milligrams for edibles.
• Terpenes
  Aroma and flavor compounds. Terpene panels are usually informational; none of the markets in this index sets pass or fail limits on them.
• Water activity
  A measure of free moisture available to microbes, used to judge mold risk in flower. Distinct from moisture content, which is total water by weight.
• Homogeneity
  For edibles: whether the active ingredient is evenly distributed, so each serving carries the labeled dose.
• Sample ID / lab ID
  The laboratory’s own identifier for the physical sample it received. It is assigned by the lab, not the brand, and it is the key that ties a certificate to the lab’s result portal.
• License number
  The state-issued license of the laboratory (and often the producer) printed on the certificate. Licenses and permits are public records you can check against the state’s own list; see the regulator directory.
• Recall
  A regulator-published action pulling specific batches from sale. Recalls are issued by state agencies, not by laboratories, and this index reproduces them from the regulators’ own feeds.