How Long Does Cannabis Testing Take in Minnesota? What Operators Need to Know in 2026

By Drew Duffy, MHA, FACHE  · Founder & Managing Director, CannaPath Regulatory Solutions  ·  Reviewed August 2026

If you cultivate or manufacture cannabis in Minnesota, you have probably asked some version of this question:

How long does cannabis testing take in Minnesota?

Simple question. The answer is not a number you can look up and stop reading.

Minnesota sets requirements for sampling, testing, reporting, and releasing product. Underneath those requirements sits a real-world process: lab availability, sample prep, scheduling, transport, and sometimes retesting or remediation. The rules describe a floor. Your calendar deals with everything else.

And this matters more than most operators expect going in. A finished batch sitting in your facility waiting on a lab is not inventory. It is payroll, production cost, packaging, lost sales, and cash you cannot put toward the next run.

So here is what the state actually requires, how the process really works, and where the regulatory timeline stops and your timeline begins.

Before you use this

This article reflects the Cannabis Technical Authority, Version 2.0, approved July 1, 2026, which supersedes Version 1.3. Testing requirements change, and several figures in this article changed with Version 2.0. Verify current requirements with the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management before you rely on any of it operationally.

The short answer

Minnesota's Cannabis Technical Authority requires a licensed testing facility to begin microbial analysis within five days of receiving a sample, and states that all sample testing should be completed within 10 business days.

Read that last part again. Business days, not calendar days.

Version 1.3 of the standard said 10 days. Version 2.0 says 10 business days. That is roughly four extra calendar days on the single number most operators build their schedule around, and the change went in quietly on July 1.

Even so, neither number means your product is on the shelf. Testing has to be scheduled in Metrc within two business days of sampling. The lab then runs its own process. Nothing moves to retail sale or into further manufacturing until every required test is complete, the results meet the criteria, and the results have been reported.

Production → Sampling → Metrc scheduling → Lab intake → Testing → Results → Reporting → Release

Every one of those steps can add time. Only some of them have deadlines.

Table 1. Every deadline in the Minnesota testing process

Requirement	Deadline	Who it falls on
Schedule regulatory batch testing in Metrc	2 business days from sampling	Cultivator or manufacturer. Hemp products not tracked in Metrc must be sent for analysis on the same clock.
Begin microbial analysis	5 days from sample receipt	Testing facility
Complete all sample testing	10 business days	Testing facility. If the deadline will be missed for equipment failure or other reasons, the facility must notify OCM beforehand with an estimated date.
Report results in Metrc	2 business days from test completion	Testing facility
Request a reanalysis after a failure	7 days from notice of the failure	License holder. One reanalysis per sample, same lab, same sample.
Complete a retest	30 days from the retest request	Second testing facility, different ownership
Initiate stability testing on a new product	3 months	Cultivator or manufacturer
Hold the retention sample	Until 6 months after the expiration date	License holder

Figure 1. The regulatory floor, with each step run exactly at its deadline.

That chart is arithmetic, not pessimism. Run every step at its legal deadline, convert business days at five per week, and you land somewhere around day 24. Nothing in that picture has gone wrong yet.

Why testing catches so many operators off guard

Testing is easy to under-plan, because when you are building a cannabis business you are thinking about licensing, zoning, security, cultivation, manufacturing, hiring, SOPs, inventory, packaging, and getting product made at all.

Then you finish your first batch and discover the thing nobody warns you about:

Having a finished product is not the same as having a product you can sell.

Minnesota does not allow a regulated product to be offered for wholesale distribution or retail sale if it has not undergone required testing or does not meet the acceptance criteria. Testing is not paperwork happening quietly in the background while you get on with business. It is a production step with a lead time, and it belongs on your production schedule alongside everything else.

What Minnesota actually requires

The governing document is the Cannabis Technical Authority: Standards for Sampling and Testing Cannabis and Hemp Products, Version 2.0, approved July 1, 2026. It applies to cannabis and hemp products manufactured or sold by OCM-licensed businesses. Cultivators and manufacturers follow the sampling requirements and contract with an OCM-licensed testing facility. The facility runs the analysis and reports the results.

Minnesota uses a risk-based scheme, which means it tests for each contaminant at the point where that contaminant is most concentrated, rather than testing everything at every stage. That keeps overall testing down. It also means you cannot assume one universal panel covers your product.

Table 2. What gets tested, by product category

Product	Microbial	Myco- toxins	Heavy metals	Pesti- cides	Foreign matter	Residual solvents	Potency
Flower for smoking, including flower to be infused	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required	—	Required
Flower going to concentrate	Advised	—	Advised	Advised	—	—	Advised
Rosin (solventless concentrate)	Required	Required	Required	Required	—	—	Required
Resin (solvent concentrate)	Required	Required	Required	Required	—	Required	Required
Artificially derived cannabinoid concentrate	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required, plus THC purity
Manufactured final products	Required	—	—	—	—	—	Required
Product entering Minnesota from a Tribe or another state	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required

Stability is required for every category above. Homogeneity is required for anything with serving units. Terpene analysis is required whenever terpenes are added or claimed on the label.

The Minnesota testing timeline, step by step

Step 1. Produce the batch

Your first responsibility is making the product correctly. Testing is verification, not quality control, and the standard is explicit that it is not a substitute for good manufacturing practice. What happens in your production room largely determines what happens at the lab.

Step 2. Collect the compliance sample

Minnesota requires representative sampling, which means considerably more than scooping product off the top of a container.

The standard requires trained personnel, sterilized equipment, proper labeling, chain-of-custody documentation, and a statistically valid method. Increments come from the upper, middle, and lower sections of each container, and you avoid pulling within six inches of any outer surface where you can.

Version 2.0 rebuilt the sample-size tables entirely. Version 1.3 had one table with two batch tiers. Version 2.0 has five tables organized by product type, with three tiers each, and beverages counted in units rather than mass. If your sampling SOP was written against 1.3, it is out of date.

Table 3. Sample increments and sizes under Version 2.0

Product type	Batch size	Increments	Compliance sample	Retention sample
Flower and infused non-edible	Up to 26 lbs	10	60 g	20 g
Flower and infused non-edible	26 to 220 lbs	12	0.5% of batch mass	20 g
Flower and infused non-edible	Over 220 lbs	24	500 g	20 g
Infused edible, excluding beverages	Up to 37 lbs	10	95 g	20 g
Infused edible, excluding beverages	37 to 220 lbs	12	0.5% of batch mass	20 g
Infused edible, excluding beverages	Over 220 lbs	24	500 g	20 g
Concentrates and vapes	Up to 14 lbs	10	32 g	10 g
Concentrates and vapes	14 to 44 lbs	12	0.5% of batch mass	10 g
Concentrates and vapes	Over 44 lbs	24	100 g	10 g
Beverages over 3 oz	Up to 100 gal	4	8 units	4 units
Beverages over 3 oz	Over 3,100 gal	12	28 units	4 units
Shooters, under 3 oz	Up to 1,000 units	6	16 units	6 units
Shooters, under 3 oz	5,000 units and above	12	30 units	6 units

Abbreviated. Middle tiers exist for beverages and shooters. Check the current standard for your exact batch size.

Step 3. Schedule the testing

All regulatory batch testing must be scheduled through Metrc within two business days of sampling the batch. For hemp products not tracked in Metrc, the batch should be sent for analysis on the same two-business-day clock.

Sampling and scheduling are not separate administrative events you can space out. If nobody owns the handoff, this is where batches quietly sit.

Step 4. The lab receives the sample

Once the sample is in the lab's hands, the facility must begin microbial analysis within five days of receipt, and all sample testing should be completed within 10 business days. If the reporting deadline will not be met, whether because of equipment failure or any other reason, the facility has to notify OCM before the deadline and give an estimated date.

Note where that clock starts. It starts at receipt. Everything between your production room and the lab bench is on you, and the standard says nothing about how long it should take.

Step 5. Results, reporting, release

Results must be reported in Metrc within two business days of test completion, or through compliant COA reporting for products outside Metrc. Once results are entered and the product has met the criteria, it can be released.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

Testing complete does not mean released.

Testing complete, plus passing results, plus proper reporting, equals eligible for release. That distinction is worth building into how you talk about status internally, because "the lab finished" and "we can sell it" are different days.

What is actually being tested

Microbiological contaminants

Microbial testing looks for organisms that make a product unsafe regardless of how good it looks. Limits are set in colony forming units per gram and vary by product type, with tighter pathogen thresholds on edibles than on flower.

One asymmetry worth knowing: for medical cannabis, exceeding the total aerobic count or total yeast and mold limit fails the batch outright. For adult-use cannabis or hemp flower, it alerts OCM and requires you to investigate, document, and implement a corrective action plan before the flower moves anywhere.

Mycotoxins, heavy metals, and pesticides

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain fungi. Heavy metals can come from environmental conditions, cultivation inputs, or equipment. Pesticide testing carries a specific obligation: the cultivator must give the lab an accurate and complete list of pesticides applied to the batch when pesticide testing is requested.

Which is a good illustration of why your cultivation records and your testing SOP cannot live in separate binders.

Residual solvents and foreign material

Manufacturers carry the parallel duty. When residual solvent or foreign material testing is required, you provide the lab an accurate and complete list of solvents or catalysts used in extraction or conversion. Know what went into the product, document it, and be able to hand it over.

Potency, and a new duty you probably do not have in your SOP

Potency testing establishes cannabinoid content and supports what you tell consumers. Minnesota also sets allowable variance between results and label claims.

Version 2.0 added something small that operators keep missing. It is now explicitly the license holder's responsibility to share the potency label claim with the testing facility at the time potency testing is requested. If your request workflow does not include that field, add it.

Table 4. The 15% rule, which runs through the whole standard

Where it applies	Tolerance	Measured against
Potency vs. label claim	Within 15%	Each cannabinoid listed on the label
Potency, low-level non-intoxicating cannabinoids	Within 25%	Cannabinoids under 5% in products over 70% THC
Homogeneity	± 15%	Unit weight and highest cannabinoid vs. label claim
Stability at each timepoint	Under 15% variance	Highest cannabinoid vs. the result at T = 0
Terpenes with a quantity claim	± 15%	The label claim

Homogeneity: is every piece really the same?

Homogeneity is required for all products with serving units, evaluated on the final packaged form. The standard names edibles including gummies and beverages, lozenges, and patches.

Ten units are sampled at random and treated as separate individual samples. If a package holds multiple units, your sample has to represent both different units inside one package and units from different packages. Unit weight and the highest-concentration cannabinoid cannot vary more than 15% from the label claim.

Picture a batch of 10,000 gummies. A consumer picking one out of the bag expects roughly what the label says, not the batch average. That is the entire point.

Homogeneity has to be demonstrated on the first batch of each manufacturing process, and again whenever that process changes.

Stability, expiration, and use-by dates

Stability is required for all products, evaluated in the final packaged form, and it is what establishes your date. Version 2.0 formally separated the two kinds of date, which is new and worth getting right on your labels.

An expiration date is the date after which a product may no longer be sold at retail. Concentrates, tinctures, and manufactured finished products carry one. A use-by date is the date after which flower was demonstrated to fall outside 15% of its initial potency. Cannabis and hemp flower carry that instead.

Until you have data supporting evidence-based dates, products get a six-month expiration date. Stability testing must be initiated within three months for any new product. Fail to demonstrate six-month stability and your assigned date becomes the last passing result.

So your first batch test is not the end of your relationship with the lab. Build stability into product development rather than discovering it after the product is on shelves.

Three things Version 2.0 changed that are easy to miss

Prerolls are now spelled out

Raw flower prerolls are tested as flower, and they must be evaluated after rolling, because the processing and the paper can contribute contaminants. Testing the flower before you roll it does not satisfy the requirement.

Infused flower and infused prerolls go the other way. They are tested after infusion, as manufactured final products.

Concentrate is tested at the point of greatest concentration

All concentrates must be tested for contaminants at the point where the solution is most concentrated. In practice that means concentrate must be tested before you use it to make a finished product, and before you sell it in bulk to another manufacturer. It does not have to be tested after every processing step.

Vape cartridges are tested filled

Because vape cartridges can leach heavy metals into the product, concentrate destined for a cartridge must be evaluated after the device is filled. This started as a lab bulletin, LB-2026-03, issued April 21, 2026 and effective May 1. Version 2.0 absorbed it into the standard itself, so the Technical Authority is now your primary source on it rather than the bulletin.

Which is a decent reminder of something we say a lot at CannaPath. Do not build your compliance program from memory. Build it from the current requirements, and give your SOPs a mechanism for catching changes like this one.

What happens if a product fails testing

A failed test does not automatically mean destruction. Depending on the failure and the circumstances, you have four routes, each with its own rules and its own clock.

Figure 2. The four routes out of a failed compliance test.

Reanalysis and retesting are not the same thing

This distinction is easy to miss and expensive to get wrong.

Reanalysis is the same lab re-running the same sample. You have seven days from being notified of the failure to request it, you have to notify OCM, and a sample can only be reanalyzed once. The lab may only reanalyze the test that actually failed.

Retesting is a different lab running a new sample from a fresh pull of the batch. It is only available after a reanalysis that passes. It has to be completed within 30 days of the request, it cannot go to a lab under the same ownership as the first, and it cannot go to a lab that was subcontracted for the original work. A batch can only be retested once.

Add that up and a single failure can turn a normal production timeline into a much longer one. Which is the real argument for quality control before the sample ever leaves your building.

Table 5. Comparing the four routes

Route	What it is	Who performs it	Deadline	Limit
Reanalysis	Same sample re-run	Original lab	Request within 7 days of the failure notice	Once per sample; only the test that failed
Retest	New sample from the same batch	Different lab, different ownership	Complete within 30 days of the request	Once per batch; only after a passing reanalysis
Remediation	Correcting the product to meet the standard	License holder, on an OCM-approved plan	No fixed clock; approval required before starting	Cannot rely on increasing batch size for a contaminant failure
CAPA	Process correction that releases the batch	License holder, on a plan OCM reviews	No fixed clock	Flower and prerolls only, failing only for yeast and mold or aerobic count

Remediation has a gate on it

Remediation is available in the right circumstances, but it is not a decision you make on your own. You submit a written plan to OCM on the office's form, quarantine the product, and do not begin remediation until the plan is approved. If it is approved, you follow it exactly and the resulting product has to meet the standard. If it is denied, you submit a new plan or hold the product for destruction.

One limit worth knowing before you plan around it: remediation that works by increasing batch size is not allowed for products that failed contaminant testing. If a product failed potency only, OCM may allow added ingredients as part of an approved plan.

This is a place where having the SOP written before you need it turns a bad week into a manageable one.

What a testing delay actually costs

This is where testing stops being a compliance topic and becomes a business one. Picture the position: employees waiting on the next run, packaging already bought, a facility costing money every day, inventory sitting in quarantine, retailers waiting, customers expecting product, and cash tied up in something you cannot sell.

The product is physically finished. Commercially it is not finished at all.

So build lab testing into the production schedule from the start. Not:

“We'll finish production Monday and get it tested.”

But:

“When this run finishes, who pulls the sample, who schedules it in Metrc, which lab receives it, how does it get there, what documentation goes with it, and what happens when results come back?”

That is the difference between having a testing requirement and having a testing process.

Minnesota's testing capacity is a real constraint, and it moves

This is not theoretical. In February 2026 the Star Tribune reported just two labs operating statewide with full-panel authorization for cannabis flower, and cultivators waiting six weeks or more.

In March, the Legislature passed and Governor Walz signed a bipartisan bill letting lower-potency hemp edible manufacturers keep using qualifying out-of-state labs through May 31, 2027. OCM described the change as relief from limited capacity at the state's three licensed facilities. Note the scope. That relief runs to LPHE manufacturers, not to cannabis businesses.

Then the market got a lesson in how fragile the picture is.

Figure 3. Licensed testing facilities across 2026.

What happened to Legend Technical Services

Legend was Minnesota's oldest cannabis testing lab and the first licensed for adult-use testing, in September 2025. Like other facilities standing up quickly, it was licensed under multiple variances that let it keep using the security and testing protocols it had built for the medical program, on the condition that it came into compliance with the adult-use standards before those variances expired.

They expired on May 20, 2026. OCM notified Legend and its clients that the lab was no longer authorized to test, citing unresolved security and testing requirements. Legend returned more than 400 samples to clients.

In mid-June, rather than pursue reinstatement, Legend chose to exit the cannabis and hemp industry entirely, laying off staff and telling clients the program did not fit its long-term plans under the current regulatory framework. Its environmental and medical device testing continues. Its cannabis program is gone.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

More than 400 samples went back to their owners with no results and no warning. Every one of those belonged to an operator who had done nothing wrong.

You cannot control whether your lab keeps its license. You can control whether you know who your second lab would be, whether they are authorized for your product's tests, and whether you have ever spoken to them. Know your backup before you need it.

So how many labs does Minnesota have?

As of this writing, OCM lists five licensed testing facilities. But the headline count is the wrong number to watch, because not every facility is authorized for every test on every product type.

Table 6. OCM-licensed testing facilities and certified fields of testing

Facility	Potency	Micro- bial	Myco- toxins	Heavy metals	Pesti- cides	Residual solvents	Foreign matter
Adams Independent Testing (Moorhead)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ChRi Labs (St. Paul)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	By variance	Yes
Fina Lab (Waseca)	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
PhytoLab MN (Chisago City)	Finished product only	Finished product only	No	No	No	No	No
True North Analytical (Roseville)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Terpene authorization is held by Adams and True North only. Labs authorized for potency may also perform homogeneity; labs authorized for potency and microbial may also perform stability. Official lists can lag reality, so confirm directly with OCM and the facility.

Five licensed. Two authorized across the board. If you cultivate flower needing a full contaminant panel, your real choice set is narrower than the headline number, and that is the capacity story that actually affects your schedule.

Questions to ask a lab before you commit

Speed is the obvious question and the least useful one. Better ones:

•     Are you authorized for every test my product requires, or would part of it be subcontracted?

•     What sample size and documentation do you need from me?

•     What is your current intake time, honestly, not your best case?

•     How do you handle a failed result, and how fast can you turn a reanalysis?

•     How and when do results get into Metrc?

•     What happens to my samples if you lose authorization or go down?

A pre-submission checklist

Before a batch goes to a testing facility, your team should be able to answer yes to all of these.

Production

☐  The batch is properly identified

☐  The production record is complete

☐  The batch is in the correct final form for testing, including rolled if it is a preroll and filled if it is a vape

Sampling

☐  The sampling SOP has been updated against Version 2.0

☐  The employee collecting the sample is trained and has been observed

☐  The correct number of increments for this batch size was collected

☐  Increments came from upper, middle, and lower sections, away from outer surfaces

☐  The retention sample was pulled and stored

☐  Chain-of-custody documentation is complete

Metrc

☐  The batch is entered correctly

☐  Regulatory testing was scheduled within two business days of sampling

☐  The correct test batches are selected

Laboratory

☐  The facility is currently licensed by OCM

☐  The facility is authorized for every test this product requires

☐  The facility has the sample amount it requires

☐  Pesticide, solvent, or catalyst information has been provided

☐  The potency label claim has been shared with the facility

Before release

☐  All required testing is complete

☐  The product met the acceptance criteria

☐  Results are properly reported

☐  The product is released in Metrc

☐  The product is genuinely eligible for sale or further processing

If any of those is a no, stop and resolve it before the product moves.

The biggest mistake I see operators making

It is not misunderstanding a particular assay. It is treating testing as something that happens after production.

Testing belongs inside production planning. Your cultivation SOPs, manufacturing SOPs, sampling SOP, inventory procedures, Metrc procedures, quality assurance program, and release procedures are one system, and when any part of it stalls, the rest stops with it.

So how long should you actually plan for?

Here is what I would tell an operator across the table.

The current standard says microbial analysis starts within five days of lab receipt and all testing should be completed within 10 business days. Do not build a production schedule on the assumption that product is on the shelf 10 business days after sampling. Run the arithmetic in Figure 1 and the regulatory floor alone is closer to three weeks, before a queue, a transport delay, or a single failed test.

So build a realistic lead time in. Talk to your lab about their actual intake. Know exactly what sample they need. Make sure your sampling SOP matches Version 2.0 and not 1.3. Make sure your Metrc workflow is right. Know who your backup lab is.

And stop waiting until a batch is finished to think about how it gets tested.

Final thoughts

Compliance testing exists for a good reason. Nobody wants contaminated product reaching consumers, or an inaccurate label, or an edible where one serving carries dramatically more cannabinoid than the one next to it.

But for a Minnesota cannabis business, testing is also one of the largest operational variables you have. Your ability to grow, manufacture, package, sell, and get paid runs straight through it.

Which means testing should not live in a binder on a shelf marked Compliance. It should live in your production schedule, your SOPs, and your employee training, and your team should understand it before the first batch ever leaves the production room.

That is how we think about compliance at CannaPath. Not paperwork for the sake of paperwork. Systems that let your business keep moving.

-Drew

Frequently asked questions

How long does cannabis testing take in Minnesota?

Minnesota's Cannabis Technical Authority requires a licensed testing facility to begin microbial analysis within five days of receiving a sample, and states that all sample testing should be completed within 10 business days. Total time from production to retail release is longer, because sampling, Metrc scheduling, transport, lab intake, reporting, and release requirements all sit outside that window. Run every step at its deadline and the regulatory floor is roughly three weeks.

Is the Minnesota testing deadline 10 days or 10 business days?

Ten business days. Version 1.3 of the Cannabis Technical Authority said 10 days. Version 2.0, approved July 1, 2026, changed it to 10 business days. Sources written before that date, including many still circulating, use the old figure.

Can I sell cannabis in Minnesota before testing is complete?

No. Minnesota prohibits offering a regulated product for wholesale distribution or retail sale if required testing has not been completed or the product does not meet the acceptance criteria. Results must also be reported in Metrc, or established through valid COA reporting, before the product moves to retail sale or into manufacturing another product.

How soon must cannabis testing be scheduled after sampling?

Within two business days of sampling the batch, through Metrc. Hemp products not tracked in Metrc must be sent for analysis on the same two-business-day clock.

How long does a Minnesota lab have to report results?

Two business days from test completion. The facility uploads to Metrc, which notifies OCM and the licensed producer at the same time. For products outside Metrc, results go to the license holder through compliant COA reports.

What happens if cannabis fails testing in Minnesota?

You have four routes. Destroy the product, request a reanalysis, propose a remediation plan, or in narrow circumstances submit a corrective action and preventive action plan. Which routes are open depends on what failed and on the product type.

What is the difference between reanalysis and retesting?

Reanalysis is the same laboratory re-running the same sample, requested within seven days of the failure notice, permitted once per sample. Retesting is a different laboratory running a new sample from the same batch, available only after a reanalysis that passes, and it must be completed within 30 days of the request.

Can I use any lab for a retest?

No. A retest cannot be performed by a laboratory under the same ownership as the one that ran the original test, and it cannot be performed by a laboratory that was subcontracted to do part of the original work.

What is remediation and do I need approval?

Remediation is correcting a nonconforming product so it meets the standard. You must submit a written plan to OCM on the office's form, quarantine the product, and wait for approval before performing any remediation. Remediation that works by increasing batch size is not allowed for contaminant failures.

When can I use a CAPA plan instead?

The CAPA release route is narrow. It applies to cannabis flower and prerolls that failed only for total yeast and mold, total aerobic count, or both. OCM supplies the form, and the batch stays quarantined in its original packaged volume until the plan is approved.

Does every cannabis product need the same testing?

No. Minnesota uses a risk-based scheme, testing for each contaminant where it is most concentrated. Requirements differ across flower, concentrates, manufactured final products, and imported product. The standard includes a product testing flow chart for exactly this reason.

Do prerolls need separate testing?

Raw flower prerolls are tested as flower and must be evaluated after rolling, because the processing and paper can contribute contaminants. Infused flower and infused prerolls are tested after infusion, as manufactured final products.

When does a vape cartridge get tested?

After the device is filled. Because cartridges can leach heavy metals into the product, concentrate destined for a vape cartridge is evaluated in the filled cartridge rather than beforehand. This began with lab bulletin LB-2026-03, effective May 1, 2026, and is now written into the Technical Authority.

What is homogeneity testing and which products need it?

Homogeneity confirms that individual serving units match the label rather than only averaging out across the batch. It is required for all products with serving units, including edibles, gummies, beverages, lozenges, and patches, and it is evaluated on the final packaged form. Ten units are sampled at random, and unit weight and the highest cannabinoid cannot vary more than 15% from the label claim.

What is the difference between an expiration date and a use-by date?

An expiration date is the date after which a product may no longer be sold at a licensed retail location, and it applies to concentrates, tinctures, and manufactured finished products. A use-by date is the date after which flower was demonstrated to fall outside 15% of its initial potency, and it applies to cannabis and hemp flower. Both are established through a stability study.

How long must I keep a testing retention sample?

Until six months after the product's expiration date, after which it can be disposed of.

How many cannabis testing labs are there in Minnesota?

OCM currently lists five licensed testing facilities: Adams Independent Testing, ChRi Labs, Fina Lab, PhytoLab MN, and True North Analytical. The more useful number is how many are authorized for the tests your product needs, which is fewer. Legend Technical Services, previously one of the state's main labs, exited the cannabis industry in June 2026.

Can Minnesota hemp businesses use out-of-state labs?

Manufacturers of lower-potency hemp edibles may continue using qualifying out-of-state testing facilities until May 31, 2027, under legislation signed in March 2026, provided those labs meet criteria set by OCM. This does not extend to licensed cannabis businesses, which must use an OCM-licensed facility located in Minnesota.

Do I have to give the lab my label claim?

Yes. Under Version 2.0 it is the license holder's responsibility to share potency label claim information with the testing facility at the time potency testing is requested.

What is a COA?

A certificate of analysis, the laboratory report documenting testing results for a cannabis or hemp product. The standard specifies what a COA must contain, including sample history, methods, limits of detection, pass or fail indication, and cannabinoid concentrations. A COA must state if the results come from a reanalyzed, retested, or remediated sample. COAs for products offered at retail must be available to customers on request.

Who is responsible for making sure cannabis is properly tested?

The cultivator or manufacturer is responsible for ensuring all necessary testing is performed for each batch, and for providing pesticide, solvent, catalyst, and label claim information. The testing facility is responsible for running the analyses and reporting results correctly.

What happens if the laboratory cannot complete testing on time?

The facility must notify OCM before the reporting deadline, with an estimated timeframe for filing results in Metrc. Version 2.0 broadened the trigger from equipment failure alone to equipment failure or other reasons.

If you want a hand with this

We keep a Cultivator Readiness Workbook in the free resources section of the site. It is a fillable PDF, so you can work through it at your own pace and keep what you fill in.

No email required, no form, no drip campaign. Download it and go.

And if you get into something you would rather not sort out alone, we are here. Reach out.

Sources

This article is an educational resource. It does not replace the current requirements published by the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, and it is not legal advice.

•     Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, Cannabis Technical Authority: Standards for Sampling and Testing Cannabis and Hemp Products, Version 2.0, approved July 1, 2026

•     Minnesota Rules, part 9810.3100 (product testing and sampling) and part 9810.3000 (testing facilities)

•     Minnesota Statutes, section 342.61

•     OCM, Licensed Testing Facilities listing

•     OCM Lab Bulletin LB-2026-03, issued April 21, 2026, effective May 1, 2026

•     OCM news release, March 27, 2026, on out-of-state testing for lower-potency hemp edible manufacturers

•     Minnesota Star Tribune reporting on testing capacity, February through June 2026

Last reviewed: August 2026. Rules change. Verify current figures with OCM before relying on them.