Ziel Helps Cannabis Growers
Protect Their Investment

Cannabis microbial decontamination expert Ziel help cannabis growers protect their investment in their crop.

Commercial cultivators know that compliance is king. If a grower’s products don’t pass the required testing for contamination, they can’t be sold in regulated markets.

Most legal cannabis markets require testing for pesticides, heavy metals, and microbial contamination. Compliance with pesticide and heavy metals requirements is relatively straightforward and can be accomplished with proper operating procedures. However, as cultivators in California and regulated markets worldwide are aware, maintaining control over microbial contamination is a constant challenge. That’s where the decontamination company Ziel comes in.

In an Interview with IgniteIt, Ziel CEO Arthur de Cordova says the company’s name was inspired by its mission.

“Ziel is actually a German word. It means target,” de Cordova explains. “And what we do as a company is we target microbial pathogens.”

Ziel’s radio frequency decontamination solution was developed to ensure that agricultural products, such as nuts, seeds, dates, and prunes, were safe for consumption. As the regulated cannabis market began to take shape, Ziel started helping licensed growers protect their investments with technology that uses specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to reduce microbial contamination.

“We were the first company to commercialize a microbial decontamination solution for cannabis,” says de Cordova. “We began in 2015, so we’ve been at this for 10 years. And so we bring a wealth of knowledge to the industry.”

Ziel’s Unique Process Protects Product Integrity

Other decontamination processes, including gamma, X-ray, and e-beam, are also used by some cannabis cultivators. These methods, however, rely on ionizing radiation, which can change the molecular structure of cannabis flower, de Cordova explains. Ziel’s process, which utilizes non-ionizing radiation, is different.

“Decontamination with radio frequency has some very unique properties that others can’t match,” says de Cordova.

The process allows the cannabis to be gently heated throughout the volume of the flower, a process that eliminates much of the decontamination without altering the product.

“Our strategy is not to sterilize the product,” he notes. “It is to reduce the microbial pathogens below the threshold level required by compliance. So the product retains its natural properties, which is a good thing. This is what people want.”

Ziel’s microbial decontamination solution can be used on cannabis flower before it is laboratory-tested to help ensure it meets regulatory standards. The system can also be used to remediate cannabis that has failed testing, so it can still be sold.

Organic-Compliant Microbial Decontamination

De Cordova highlighted the fact that while some cannabis operators use gamma, X-ray, and E-beam radiation for decontamination, those solutions do not comply with regulations governing organic agriculture.

“If you’re an organic grower and you want to preserve your organic report card, radio frequency is organic compliant,” he explains, adding, “So we’re we’re unique in that.”

Ziel’s radio frequency cannabis decontamination is so unique, in fact, that the company has been awarded patents in two countries.

“All of our solutions for the cannabis industry are patented, patented in Canada and then in the United States,” de Cordova says, “which speaks to the deep intellectual property we have surrounding the use of radio frequency for the decontamination of cannabis.”