Label claim variance

Label claim variance is the difference between the amount of an ingredient stated on a product label and the amount a laboratory actually measures.

Some variance is inevitable because of analytical uncertainty, natural degradation over shelf life and manufacturing tolerances, and manufacturers often build in a small overage to keep a product within claim through its dated life. Regulators have surveyed CBD products on the market and found many that differed substantially from their labels in either direction, including some that contained THC not declared on the label.

For a reader, the variance is visible only when a batch certificate of analysis is compared with the label for the same batch. A measured total within a reasonable margin of the label figure is expected; a large shortfall suggests a formulation, mixing or stability problem, and an unexpectedly large excess raises its own questions. A label figure without a matching test result is an assertion, which is why batch-level certificates are the central tool for checking it.