The U.S. cannabis testing market is expected to witness lucrative growth over the coming years owing to increasing product usage for medical purposes, rising cannabis legalization across different states, and the subsequent growth in the need to ensure overall consumer safety. With cannabis finally in the legal domain, cannabis testing has emerged as a one the main aspect of the new industry. In fact, increase in legalization of both medical and adult recreational cannabis has led to the need for strong and reliable analytical testing to make sure safety of consumers.

Testing of cannabis enables growers as well as sellers to meet state regulations further providing top-quality, easy to dose products that customers could feel safe for consumption. Cannabis testing needs generally differ by state to state; however, most states need testing as well as labeling for potency and numerous contaminants like pesticides, heavy metals, microbes, and residual solvents.

For instance, in Colorado, all retail cannabis-based products must be tested for residual solvents like BTX, heptane, hexane and butane; microorganisms such as mold, yeast, Salmonella, and E. coli; and potency like CBN, CBDa, CBD, THCa and THC before being placed in dispensary shelves. In addition, pharma companies that market cannabis-based medications generally perform much more hard testing in comparison to other producers of adult recreational cannabis products.

The U.S. cannabis testing market is bifurcated into various segments in terms of technology, test type, and zones.

With respect to technology, the U.S. cannabis testing market is classified into spectroscopy, chromatography, and others. Among these, spectroscopy segment is expected to show significant growth of 10.3% over the analysis time period.

In terms of test type, the overall market is segmented into mycotoxin testing, terpene testing, heavy metal testing, residual solvent screening, pesticide screening, potency testing, and others. The residual solvent screening segment is expected to reach a valuation of approximately $580.1 million by the end of the analysis time period.

The extraction of cannabis for producing materials for use in oils, edibles, oils as well as other products often uses solvents like propane, butane, acetone or isopropanol. It is noted that these residual solvents are considered harmful to health, so these should not be present in the final product.

From a regional frame of reference, in 2020, North East Zone accounted for an overall market share of 10.6% and is estimated to follow similar growth trend over the coming time period. Meanwhile, East North Central Zone is anticipated to showcase steady growth of around 10.6% over the forecast time period.