With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, the United States federally legalized hemp - a cannabis plant containing less than 0.3% Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). An industry was born, and with it, a unique set of complications and challenges around the sale of products containing one of hemp’s most lucrative chemical compounds: cannabidiol, or CBD.
More and more, consumers are demanding access to the full story of the products they purchase and are expecting a new level of transparency from brands and retailers. For brands, traceability is essential to building trust with consumers, and it also enables quick responses to recalls or issues at any point in the supply chain. And for industries that are new or emerging, the ability to trace a product’s journey through the supply chain can become a rare “anchor of trust.”
How do we make the CBD supply chain more visible, take advantage of the data generated, and ensure that data can be trusted and shared from start to finish? End-to-end supply chain visibility requires technology interoperability to ensure solution choice and to avoid vendor lock-in, and GS1 Standards exist to facilitate interoperability. GS1 Standards can also enable efficiency and safety using one common language across systems and trading partners.