The UK’s Advisory Committee on Novel Foods & Processes (ACNFP) of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued its first positive safety assessment for the European Industrial Hemp Association’s (EIHA) application in its CBD Novel Foods approval process.
Coming just months after the first two individual applications were given positive risk assessments in May, this represents another major step forward for the UK CBD industry’s arduous journey towards full regulation.
EIHA’s ‘RP427’ application represents over 160 companies from across the UK, Europe and the US, and includes over 1000 products. To obtain approval for their members, they standardized the processes among the members of the consortium to ensure they were abiding by the stringent rules that make them compliant with what they tested. Each oil product must use natural (non-synthetic) CBD extract in any vegetable oil, extracted using traditional methods of extraction as per EU directives.
In October last year, the FSA published a shock update to its consumer guidance on the recommended daily dosage of CBD. According to new scientific evidence gained from toxicological studies submitted by the industry, the FSA dropped its recommended daily intake (ADI) from 70 mg a day to just 10 mg a day (unlimited in time). [1]
However, the EIHA application supported an ADI of 17.5 mg a day for six weeks.
In their assessment the ACNFP concluded that “the applicant had provided sufficient information to assure the novel food, an isolated CBD as detailed in application RP427, was safe under the proposed conditions of use. The anticipated intake levels and the proposed use in foods and food supplements was not considered to be nutritionally disadvantageous”.
This approval sets a precedent for the FSA as the pioneering regulatory body to classify CBD products as approved novel food,setting a precedent not yet seen by counterparts such as the EFSA in the EU or the FDA in the US.
The approval is to be sent to the minister for final authorization as the procedure proceeds to the Risk Management stage.
[1] https://acnfp.food.gov.uk/ACNFP2024Meetings
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