The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is preparing to recommend that ministers approve the first three CBD products to pass its novel food safety assessment, as first reported by Devon Live. The story was also reported by the Examiner Live.

If the FSA board backs the move at a meeting on 16 September, the agency will advise ministers in England and Wales to authorise the products. Approval would give full legal authorisation to sell CBD oils, sweets, drinks and supplements containing the approved ingredients.

The three applications

The applications, known as RP7, RP350 and RP427, are the first to have completed the FSA’s safety assessment process. They involve CBD preparations that are at least 98% pure. The reports say they would serve as a base ingredient for a large number of products sold in Britain.

Approval would allow the ingredients to be used in specified retail products, including food supplements. In the case of RP350, it would also cover certain beverages and confectionery. The FSA’s proposed limits on THC and other controlled cannabinoids in the products are strict.

CBD, short for cannabidiol, is one of a group of cannabinoids found in cannabis and hemp, and can also be made synthetically. It is not the same as THC, the compound responsible for the intoxicating effects of cannabis.

Labelling and warnings

Products would have to carry a label stating a provisional acceptable daily intake of 10mg of CBD for adults. The proposed wording reads: “The maximum acceptable daily intake (ADI) of CBD for adults is 10 mg. Do not consume more than a single 10 mg CBD product per day to avoid exceeding the ADI.”

Further warnings would advise against consumption by under-18s, people who are immunosuppressed, and women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive. Companies would remain barred from making unauthorised health or medicinal claims about CBD products.

A market in a grey area

CBD products have been sold in Britain for more than a decade, though in theory they should not have been sold without authorisation and a safety assessment. Rather than shut down the existing industry while thousands of applications were processed, the FSA introduced an interim system. Products already on sale could stay on the market if they were linked to a credible application and met certain conditions.

FSA research suggests as many as one in ten people use CBD products, and one recent estimate puts the UK market at £386 million.

The reports note that the FSA’s position differs from that of European regulators. The European Food Safety Authority currently has a provisional safe level of around 2mg a day for a 70kg adult, well below the FSA’s 10mg figure. The FSA says it remains confident in its own assessment.

The decision now rests with the FSA board on 16 September, after which ministers would decide whether to authorise the products.