North Dakota: from grow to shelf, what the label has to show

Step by step: North Dakota

1. Step 1: One strain, ten-pound batches (Manufacturing facility) A manufacturing facility registered with the Department of Health and Human Services grows and packages the flower. A harvest lot is one strain, grown the same way and harvested within 72 hours at one site; for compliance testing it is split into batches of no more than ten pounds. This becomes the label’s batch number, harvest date and strain name.
2. Step 2: The state’s lab sends its agents (Department-selected lab) Under the rules, the testing lab is one the Department selects through state procurement to both sample and test, properly accredited as the Department determines; the facility pays. Each lab agent holds a Department registry identification card. Before sampling, the facility gives the lab its batch and lot numbers and batch mass, then keeps the batch secured so it cannot be tampered with or moved until testing ends.
3. Step 3: Five test groups (Department-selected lab) Flower headed for a dispensary is tested for THC, THCA, CBD and CBDA, reported on a dry-weight basis, plus pesticides and degradation compounds, microbes and mycotoxins (total aflatoxins and ochratoxin A each under 20 µg/kg), heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury), and water activity and moisture: above 0.65 aw or 15% moisture fails.
4. Step 4: Results into STEMS (Department-selected lab) Results are recorded in STEMS, the Department’s traceability and inventory control system, and untested product cannot go on a transport manifest to a dispensary. Total THC is THC plus 0.877 times THCA, and that lab-identified figure becomes the label’s total THC and total CBD. Any tentatively identified compound is reported to both the facility and the Department.
5. Step 5: Pass / fail, by contaminant (Department of HHS) A failed facility may ask the Department in writing for a reanalysis within seven calendar days. Flower that fails for pesticides cannot be remediated and is disposed of as ordered. Heavy metals may be remediated only with the Department’s prior written approval, then retested. Microbe failures may become a concentrate only through a sterilizing process, and flower that is too wet can dry longer and be retested.
6. Step 6: Package + label (Manufacturing facility) Before transfer the facility labels each container in at least 8-point Arial or Calibri, or 6-point or a peel-back label when space is short: its name and registry number, container ID, batch, harvest date, strain, net weight, total THC and CBD, activation time in words or a pictogram, an expiration date backed by stability testing, the Department’s universal symbol and four warnings. The word organic is not allowed.
7. Step 7: The dispensary’s own label (Dispensary) One of the state’s eight registered dispensaries may accept only product that has passed compliance testing. When it dispenses, it adds its own label with the patient’s name and registry card number, the dispensary’s name and the date dispensed, in the same 8-point type, so every package leaves with two labels: the manufacturer’s and the dispensary’s.
8. Step 8: Random sampling + lab inspections (Department of HHS) The Department may require a manufacturing facility to allow sampling at any time, and the facility pays for those tests. The selected lab is itself subject to random inspection by the Department or its designee, and a facility that gets a positive pesticide result must report it immediately to the Department and the agriculture commissioner.