New Mandatory Sampling and Transportation Requirements For Registered Organizations (RO’s) and Adult Use (AU) Cannabis Testing:
What You Need to Know As A Cultivator or Processor

Effective July 1, 2023, adult-use licensees and RO’s must begin utilizing approved cannabis sampling firms for the sampling and transportation of their final cannabis product samples for laboratory testing.

A random, representative number of final products from each lot of cannabis products produced must be tested and will be collected by the sampling firm’s technician. The licensee must not prepare the samples. “How much” or the representative number of samples that the technician collects, depends on the lot size.  The Office’s Sampling Quality System Standard (page 4) includes tables with the number of random sample increments for different batch or lot size ranges.  

Additionally, the Office issued guidance on 03/17/2023 to address packaging the final product for sale and subsequent to receiving passing results.  This is a reminder that the entire lot must be in its ready-to-consume form but does not have to be packaged in final packaging prior to sample collection.  The samples collected from a lot must be placed in the final packaging before they can be sent to the laboratory for testing.  This can be done at the time of sample collection.

Once the licensee receives passing compliance testing results from the permitted laboratory, the licensee must package the entire lot prior to releasing for retail sale.

• No additional processing may be performed. Examples of additional processing include but are not limited to, rehydrating, additional trimming, grinding, further distillation, and coating oral forms.

• The final product must go immediately from storage to packaging.

• Any final cannabis product that has received passing compliance laboratory testing that has not been packaged within 7 days of the permitted laboratory certificate of analysis or undergoes additional processing will be required to be retested for microbiology, moisture content, and water activity.

 A cannabis product batch, or lot, is defined in Part 130 laboratory regulations as a uniquely defined quantity of cannabis product; including pre-rolls, that is uniform in processing, manufacture, and packaging within a concurrent time frame.

Once the entire lot is packaged and there is no remaining final product in bulk storage, the product then can be made available for distribution for retail sale.

The final product, in bulk storage, that has passed all compliance testing must be packaged within 30 days to ensure the quality of the product in accordance with individual standard operating procedures using good manufacturing practices for each product type.

It is the licensee’s responsibility to space out testing of the product to ensure they have the time and resources to package the final product that passes compliance testing within the 30-day allotment.

This guidance can be found in Section 5 of the OCM Laboratory Testing Guidance for AUCC and AUCP Licensees

If you have any questions, please reach out to labs@ocm.ny.gov

Why the New Sampling Requirement Matters

The implementation of this requirement offers a range of benefits that are integral to the cannabis sector, including:

Ensuring fair and accurate medical cannabis testing

With the new requirement, the testing of all cannabis products slated for New York’s cannabis dispensaries will be accurately representative of the overall batch.

Promotion of unbiased testing

By utilizing third-party sampling firms, the results from the sampling and testing processes will be unbiased, further improving their validity.

Preventing sample contamination

All samples are securely stored in a fully enclosed box during transport, accompanied by a comprehensive shipping manifest and chain-of-custody documents. These measures minimize the risk of sample contamination.

Understanding the Implications & Changes for RO and AU Clients

More efficient use of time

The new policy cuts back on delivery and sampling costs, freeing up valuable time for your team to focus on more essential tasks.

Advance scheduling

You will need to schedule your sample pick-up requests three days in advance. This ensures that we can best accommodate your preferred pick-up day and time.

Fast and economical services provided by CannaPort Sampling, LLC

The CannaPort website will facilitate clients in establishing their warehousing setup, making it simple to select where samples will be taken from.

Streamlined sampling procedure

Upon scheduling, CannaPort will arrive at your facility and sample from the requested batches under the supervision of one of your employees.

Labeling and submission

The samples will be labeled at the time of collection and submitted in the final packaging or equivalent.

Simplified payment 

The sampling and transport fee will be added to your testing invoice, eliminating the need for additional payment steps.