Delaware: from grow to shelf, what the label has to show

Step by step: Delaware

1. Step 1: Cultivation batch (Cultivation facility) A licensed cultivation facility grows and harvests the flower and tracks each batch in the state’s seed-to-sale system. Nothing reaches a retail store until it has been tested by a marijuana testing facility licensed by the Commissioner. This step supplies the label’s finished product batch number and the name of the establishment that cultivated, harvested and packaged the flower.
2. Step 2: Sampling under state supervision (Commissioner / state) Samples are randomly selected by the business under the supervision of the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement, in person or on video surveillance, following the Commissioner’s Best Practices Guide for Sample Collection. A flower batch is capped at 10 pounds, with a 3 gram minimum sample. Since March 2026 the Commissioner may temporarily allow self-sampling, but only in an emergency or extraordinary circumstances.
3. Step 3: Independent licensed lab (Testing facility) Testing facilities are licensed by the Commissioner under 4 Del. C. §1333, and the lab, its owners, managers and employees may hold no financial interest in the cultivation, manufacturing or retail businesses it tests for. Each lab joins a proficiency testing program whose provider sends results straight to the Commissioner by 31 October each year, and a failed study costs the lab its approval for that analyte.
4. Step 4: The test panel (Testing facility) The law requires testing for residual solvents, poisons or toxins, harmful chemicals, dangerous molds or mildew, filth, harmful microbes such as E. coli or salmonella, and pesticides. The rules add potency, four metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury), water activity of 0.6 aW or less for flower, and a fail at 1% foreign matter such as hair or insects.
5. Step 5: COA, results confidential (Testing facility) The lab enters results into the state’s seed-to-sale system, and only when it enters “pass” is the batch released for transfer to a retail store. Each certificate of analysis names the lab, its license number, its director, an issue date and an expiration date. Inhalable labels print total THC and total CBD as reported on the certificate, or an average within 15%.
6. Step 6: Fail: 48 hours, then 30 days (Commissioner / state) The lab must report a failed test to both the Commissioner and the business within 48 hours. From that notice the business has 30 days to retest, remediate or destroy the batch. A retest without remediation means two samples sent to the same lab. A pesticide failure cannot be remediated, and failed flower may not be fixed by mixing it into other batches.
7. Step 7: Package + label (Cultivation facility) Labels must be legible, unobstructed and in English, and carry the Commissioner’s universal symbol on the front or most prominent panel, at least half an inch square, unaltered and contrasting with its background. Required warnings cover adults 21 and over, children, locked storage, health risks, driving and prescription medication. Edibles and beverages add a caution that effects may be delayed by 2 or more hours.
8. Step 8: Retail shelf (Retail store) Only product marked as passed moves to retail, and the store keeps each certificate of analysis and gives customers a copy on request. Edibles are capped at 10 mg of THC per serving. Since March 2026 every sale comes with a written warning notice in at least 12-point type and safe storage information, and each store must sell lockable storage containers.