NY Shifts Responsibility For Safe Cannabis Products To Growers - Deletes Testing Standards For Mold, Bacteria & Yeast

New York's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced on Tuesday that it has loosened its testing requirements for bacteria, yeast and mold after cultivators expressed concern that they wouldn’t be able to comply with rigorous rules necessary to bring their products to market.

The agency emailed growers on Tuesday, stating “the Office has updated its Laboratory Testing Limits document to remove the pass/fail limits associated with the Total Viable Aerobic Bacteria Count and Total Yeast and Mold Count for unextracted cannabis products (e.g. cannabis flower, pre-roll, etc.),” reported Syracuse.

According to the report, the OCM confirmed that labs will still be required to perform these tests, but that there wouldn’t be a clear-cut limit for unextracted marijuana products in the recreational program.

“It is the responsibility of the licensee to consider these results and any impact to the stability and expiration dating of the product, as well as any risks to the health of consumers,” the OCM noted.

Good News Or Bad News?

For many cultivators, loosening testing limits with no explicit standards sure sounds like good news. “This is a step in the right direction for the success of this new market,” commented Aaron Leentjes, a conditional grower and co-founder of UNIFI Cannabis. “Because growers were not given an option to cultivate indoors, it’s nice to see OCM adjusting their testing guidelines to be more in line with the realities of outdoor cultivation.”

Is this really such a good idea? Not everyone agrees, according to the outlet.

Colin Decker, a cannabis industry consultant and owner of Hudson Valley-based Sensei Growth Consulting said this will “inevitably open a can of worms in regards to the standards, quality, and expectations that customers would have for the flower and products they are looking to purchase in dispensaries within New York State. This sets the bar even lower for the end-product quality due to growers not having to meet such stringent requirements to get their products sold.”

What’s more, the agency also reported that not all analytes must be tested at first, for example, moisture content, filth/foreign material and water activity will not be required for testing until after Jan.1, 2023. 

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