The long-awaited Food Standards Agency list of CBD products permitted for sale to consumers is to be published imminently.
The list will include applicant seeking authorisation of products through the FSA’s Novel Foods process. However, the inclusion of a CBD product on this list does not mean that a said product is authorised or approved.
The applicants on the list can be in placed in one of two categories including those that have been validated in the initial stage before going to the safety assessment, and those that are ‘on-hold’ or ‘awaiting evidence’.
Any products not included on the list will have to be taken off sale. This will be enforced immediately by Trading Standards officers, which means companies that continue to sell unlisted CBD products will be putting themselves at risk of enforcement action.
The Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI), the trade body for the UK’s CBD sector, is now developing an online resource where the list will be published: www.UKCBDList.com.
Steve Moore, ACI founder, said the release of the list was generating considerable excitement in the legal cannabis extract sector. “The FSA has put in a tremendous amount of work to assess the many applications made, including the super-dossier submitted by ACI on behalf of our members.
“A key concern will be helping people to find out quickly and easily if the CBD products they are purchasing or offering for sale are permitted and safe. ACI’s new website, UKCBDList.com, will be the definitive source of information for determining this.”
The ACI’s online resource will enable consumers, retailers and health practitioners to ensure they are buying and selling only permitted products.
The Novel Foods assessment process was accessible to any CBD product formulated for oral use that was on sale in the UK on or before 13 February 2020, with the deadline for applications fixed at 31 March 2021.
Last month FSA CEO, Emily Miles, warned local authorities that as products are rejected from the market authorisation process, they would need to step up enforcement efforts – but that the FSA will support the process.
FSA chair, professor Susan Jebb, also added that the authority intends to work closely with the police and Home Office in regards to CBD products that contain THC.
The UK market for consumer CBD products was worth £690m in 2021, according to ACI estimates – more than double the level of sales recorded in 2019, when the market was valued at £314 million.1 The UK is now the world’s second largest market for consumer CBD, behind only the US.
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