UK Government Launches Public Consultation for First-Ever CBD Food Authorization

UK's First CBD Food Authorization Consultation The UK government launched public consultation on August 28 regarding authorization applications for three cannabidiol (CBD) food products as Novel Foods, with the consultation closing November 20. This marks the first public consultation on CBD food authorization applications in the UK. Since January 2019, when the European Commission designated CBD as a novel food, CBD products require Commission authorization for legal sale. Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment The consultation covers three products that completed Food Standards Agency (FSA) safety evaluations: synthetic cannabidiol, cannabidiol isolate, and cannabis-derived isolated cannabidiol. According to the FSA, approximately 3,000 CBD food products relate to these three components. The FSA previously set the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for healthy adults at 70 milligrams in February 2020 but reduced it to 10 milligrams in October 2023 based on accumulated safety evidence. FSA consumer surveys indicate that 1 in 9 people (11%) consumed CBD in the past six months, with 26% exceeding the 10-milligram daily intake limit.