It’s Massachusetts so as always it is Grant Smith – Ellis with the story
The two brands hit by today’s major CCC product alert related to potentially fraudulent total yeast and mold testing in Massachusetts are The Heirloom Collective and Holistic Industries.
In particular, Holistic Industries’ STRANE brand as well as their Garcia Hand Picked brand (tied to the family of the late Jerry Garcia) have been impacted. Two products produced by The Heirloom Collective were also listed in the CCC’s alert.
Interestingly, both Holistic Industries and The Heirloom Collective were the subject of reporting by local consumer advocate –and hero– Danny Carson (@DannyMassachusetts), who spent months conducting his own off-the-shelf testing that, in so many ways, previewed Monday’s bombshell news from the CCC (and, for that, I extend Danny a well earned kudos).
Earlier on Monday I reported that, for the first time, the Massachusetts CCC sent out a warning regarding specific products that were sold to consumers after possibly fraudulent total yeast and mold testing.
A huge list of retailers are impacted by products from two separate license holders (now confirmed to be Holistic Industries and The The Hirloom Collective), and this news comes just two days after a major civil fraud lawsuit was filed by MCR Labs against eight other testing labs in the Commonwealth (alleging wide-spread manipulation of total yeast and mold testing in a manner that is exactly what the CCC is now addressing). Read more about that lawsuit here – https://lnkd.in/eqdJgRvN
“The affected products were sold between September 18, 2024, and January 30, 2025. The affected products and Marijuana Retailers are identified below,” reads a shocking press release from the Commission.
“The affected products previously passed required compliance testing between August 2024 and September 2024; however, following additional compliance testing, samples of the affected products were found to have the presence of yeast and mold above the acceptable testing limits established for Total Yeast and Mold. The affected products are subject to further investigation by the Commission and would be subject to confirmatory retesting before the products can be made available to the public,” the CCC went on to say.
See a full list of impacted products and retailers here –https://lnkd.in/eucCVxbs).
