In a recent press release (1), Ziel announced that their Radio Frequency (RF) technology was granted a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification in the EU market in regard to their microbial control with pathogens in cannabis flower. “GMP defines the minimum standard that medical manufacturers must meet in their product processing operations under the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which coordinates and standardizes GMP activities at the European Union (EU) level. All entities that import, produce and/or process, or export cannabis to and within the EU are required to be GMP certified, representing a substantial investment and commitment to comply with these regulations,” according to their statement (1).

“We are delighted that our radio frequency technology has received the first EU GMP approval for microbial control,” Arthur de Cordova, CEO and Co-Founder of Ziel (1). “We are well positioned in the EU to solve a problem every cultivator needs to address if they want to secure a presence in the rapidly growing European cannabis market.”

Radio frequency is non-ionizing and is compliant with organic processes (1). The European market is structured differently than the US. Radio frequency, in Europe, is not required to supply additional licensing or labeling to be utilized in cannabis decontamination. In Germany, they mandate registration for all cannabis strains that are going to be treated with radiation before being distributed (1). This costs nearly $5,500 in US currency through an administrative fee applied to each strain and also has a grueling process that can take up to 12-18 months (1).

Cultivators and post-harvest processors will now be able to use Ziel’s radio frequency technology to propagate cannabis in the EU and be able to export to the EU as well. Ziel has a microbial control solution product called RFX which has a greater than 99% pass rate and largest volume throughput in the cannabis industry (1). The technology can process 160 lbs of cannabis within 8 hours. RFX can also be utilized in organic cannabis cultivation because the enzymatic properties seen in cannabis strains are able to be preserved. “The RFX is the result of seven years of operational experience successfully processing hundreds of tons of flower using Radio Frequency technology in North America,” de Cordova mentioned (1). “This expertise has been harnessed to create a sleek, compact design that runs on single phase power and delivers the highest throughput in the industry. All at the lowest processing cost per pound.”