Kentucky cannabis testing requirements

Required tests

• Potency
• Terpenes
• Pesticides
• Residual solvents
• Heavy metals
• Microbials
• Mycotoxins
• Water activity
• Vitamin E acetate

ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation

Required. A safety compliance facility must hold an ISO/IEC 17025 certificate of accreditation from an ILAC MRA signatory before it collects, receives or tests any sample (915 KAR 1:060 Section 1; definitions in 915 KAR 1:001).

Notes

• Testing rules: 915 KAR 1:110, Medicinal cannabis testing (effective Aug 28, 2024). Lab licensing and operations: 915 KAR 1:060, Safety compliance facility. Testing labs are called safety compliance facilities.
• Potency covers 13 cannabinoids, including total THC, THCA, delta-9 and delta-8 THC, CBD, CBDA, CBN, CBG, CBGA, THCV and CBC. Terpenes: total terpenes and the most prevalent terpenes.
• Microbials: total E. coli (100 CFU/g or less), STEC, Salmonella and Aspergillus (fumigatus, flavus, niger, terreus); total yeast and mold under 10,000 CFU/g.
• Heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, with tighter limits for inhaled products. Mycotoxins: total aflatoxins and ochratoxin A, each 20 µg/kg or less.
• Water activity (<0.65) applies to harvest batches; residual solvents and vitamin E acetate apply to production batches. No moisture-content or foreign-matter test is listed.
• Batch caps: harvest batches 20 lb (50 lb for raw material going to extraction); production batches 5 L of liquid concentrate or 9 lb of non-liquid product.
• No adult-use program. The 2026 session left the cannabis statutes unchanged; June 2026 regulations and an executive order widened qualifying conditions, not testing.