Organigram (OGI.V) loses organic accreditation after Ecocert Organigram (OGI.V) loses organic accreditation after Ecocert investigation
Even so, Organigram’s website still made statements, as of Wednesday, such as “organic is just… better” and “100% organic cannabis.” It included a section detailing its organic growing “methodology.”
In an email, Organigram spokeswoman Giselle Doiron noted the company’s organic certification had been suspended, not withdrawn. She said the company has worked closely with Ecocert.
“The presence of pesticides within our products were as much of a shock to them as it was to us, and we’ve identified several changes to our internal standard operating procedures that will ensure that this presence cannot occur in the future,” she said.
Organigram’s reason for being, their main selling point, has long been their organic certification. With that now in doubt, the company has some fast work to do to right the ship.
The damage from Organigram’s foul-up has hurt more than just its own bottom line. Aurora (ACB.V) was forced to perform its own recall when it noted it had sourced some product from OGI.
Now, the government appears set to institute more random testing.
The recalls affect nearly 25,000 customers. Late Tuesday, Health Canada announced it will begin randomly testing medical marijuana products to make sure only authorized pesticides are used.
In an email, Health Canada said Organigram’s recall affected 3,895 clients, and involved 392 kilograms of dried marijuana and 33 litres of cannabis oil.
Organigram snuck out mention of its recall in the last five minutes of trading before the end of year long weekend, and a follow up recall expansion notice a few days later, buried behind an extensive release about how the company had bought a vacant lot.
Mettrum has also dealt with a product recall for similar issues, with details of that situation emerging through national press.
Organigram stock had recently climbed out of the doldrums despite the recall news, but today’s revelations saw the stock crash from over $3 to $2.74 in the afternoon.
UPDATE: The company has released a news update that mentions the loss of their certification but, true to form, buried it at the bottom of a release headlined “Organigram supports Health Canada auditing improvements.” the pertinent information comes on
the sixth paragraph of a six paragraph newser. Weak.
— Chris Parry https://equity.guru/2017/02/08/organigram-ogi-v-loses-organic-accreditation-after-ecocert-investigation/