Declared vs determined: Analysis of cannabinoids in commercially available products on the Maltese market

IF 1.7 4区生物学 Q4 CHEMISTRY, MEDICINAL

Phytochemistry Letters Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-20 DOI:10.1016/j.phytol.2026.104136

Karolina Szyrner , Paul I. Buhagiar , Anthony Serracino-Inglott , Janis Vella Szijj

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The Cannabis market is rapidly expanding, with an increasing variety of formulations creating a complex regulatory environment. Products containing cannabis fall under different legislative frameworks. Medicinal cannabis products are regulated under pharmaceutical legislation, while commercially available formulations, including oils and cosmetics, containing low concentrations of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC) fall under a combination of national and European Union (EU) regulations, presenting regulatory and analytical challenges due to fragmented frameworks and the absence of standardised quantification methods. This study aimed to develop and validate a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) analytical method for the simultaneous quantification of five cannabinoids in commercial cannabis-based oils and cosmetics available in Malta. Validation of the method demonstrated specificity, accuracy, linearity and precision. Analysis of 23 oil and 10 cosmetic products revealed discrepancies between labelled and determined cannabinoid content. THC was detected in 6 samples (0.014–0.165 %), with concentrations below the 0.2 % regulatory threshold, while deviations in cannabidiol (CBD) content exceeded ±10 % label accuracy limit in 19 products. These findings indicate the need for routine quality control and regulatory oversight to ensure consumer safety and product transparency on the Maltase market. Future research should expand this analytical framework to a broader range of cannabis products, including edibles and e-liquid formulations.

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宣布与确定：马耳他市场上可售产品中大麻素的分析

大麻市场正在迅速扩大，越来越多的配方创造了复杂的监管环境。含有大麻的产品属于不同的立法框架。药用大麻产品受医药立法监管，而含有低浓度德尔塔-9-四氢大麻酚（Δ⁹-THC）的市售配方，包括油和化妆品，则受国家和欧盟（EU）法规的综合监管，由于框架分散和缺乏标准化的量化方法，带来了监管和分析方面的挑战。本研究旨在建立并验证高效液相色谱-紫外检测（HPLC-UV）分析方法，用于同时定量马耳他市售大麻油和化妆品中五种大麻素。验证结果表明，该方法具有特异性、准确性、线性度和精密度。对23种精油和10种化妆品的分析显示，标注的大麻素含量与测定的大麻素含量存在差异。6份样品中检出四氢大麻酚（0.014 ~ 0.165 %），浓度低于0.2 %监管阈值，19份产品中大麻二酚（CBD）含量偏差超过±10 %标签准确度限制。这些发现表明，需要进行常规质量控制和监管监督，以确保马耳他市场上的消费者安全和产品透明度。未来的研究应将这一分析框架扩展到更广泛的大麻产品，包括可食用和电子液体制剂。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Phytochemistry Letters 生物-生化与分子生物学

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

11.80%

发文量

190

审稿时长

34 days

期刊介绍： Phytochemistry Letters invites rapid communications on all aspects of natural product research including: • Structural elucidation of natural products • Analytical evaluation of herbal medicines • Clinical efficacy, safety and pharmacovigilance of herbal medicines • Natural product biosynthesis • Natural product synthesis and chemical modification • Natural product metabolism • Chemical ecology • Biotechnology • Bioassay-guided isolation • Pharmacognosy • Pharmacology of natural products • Metabolomics • Ethnobotany and traditional usage • Genetics of natural products Manuscripts that detail the isolation of just one new compound are not substantial enough to be sent out of review and are out of scope. Furthermore, where pharmacology has been performed on one new compound to increase the amount of novel data, the pharmacology must be substantial and/or related to the medicinal use of the producing organism.