The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a deadline for cannabidiol (CBD) companies to submit valid novel food authorisation applications.
The FSA today announced that CBD companies have until March 31, 2021, to submit applications to be eligible to remain on the legal market.
While the FSA is the central competent authority for food safety, everyday enforcement of novel food legislation is carried out by local authorities, though they have been advised to allow businesses to sell their existing CBD products until the deadline, as long as they are correctly labeled, safe to eat, and free of illicit drugs.
FSA Chief Executive Emily Miles says that CBD products are widely available but are not properly authorized, stating that the CBD industry needs to provide more information about the safety and contents of their products before the deadline or they will be taken off of shelves.
“The actions that we’re taking today are a pragmatic and proportionate step in balancing the protection of public health with consumer choice,” says Miles. “It’s now up to industry to supply this information so that the public can be reassured that CBD is safe and what it says it is.”
The FSA recommended that healthy adults consume no more than 70 MG of 5% CBD a day unless given medical direction to take more.
The Agency also advised women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking any medication not to consume CBD products.
The FSA said that the precautionary advice is based on findings by the U.K.’s Committee on Toxicity.
