Recently we have seen an increase in the marketing of CBD products to professional athletes, which raises headlines in the media, and concerns with ourselves. While it may be that there are real (or perceived), benefits from CBD for professional athletes, we caution the use of products without a thorough program of due diligence. The responsibility for that due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete.

Novel Food Authorisation: The Starting Point, The Principle, The Practical Effect, The Sequence. Member States of the European Union are not the only jurisdiction to operate a system which seeks to manage what novel food and novel food ingredients can be made available to their citizens, but they do operate probably the most stringent system and require the most comprehensive data submissions in order to gain successful market authorization.

Is a Novel Food authorisation required for a Brand’s end product? We previously published a document to correct mis-statements that were being made to market participants by, so-called, experts in the industry. Almost a month on from the FSA’s announcement concerning Novel Foods we continue to read the same mis-statements published by those same, so-called, experts.

The United Nations is certainly not going to be the answer to the THC “issue” in the short-term and is unlikely to be the answer in the long-term either. This month the United Nations was due to vote on proposals made to it by the World Health Organisation, one of which was: “Preparations containing predominantly cannabidiol and not more than 0.2 per cent of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol are not under international control”.

FSAI DEMONSTRATE THAT REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL ARE NO BETTER IN IRELAND THAN THEY ARE IN ENGLAND. The Food Standards Authority of Ireland have published a Report identifying the CBD Regulations applicable in the Irish Republic and containing the results of their analysis of 38 products being sold on the Irish market.

FSAI MEAN BUSINESS CONCERNING THE REQUIREMENT FOR THC CONTENT IN CBD PRODUCTS. Previously we published a Summary of the FSAI Report into their testing of CBD products. The FSAI has not waited long to bare its teeth. Certain Brands have had some of their products removed already, including one high profile and “industry-leading” Brand which claims to be THC-free in respect of the very batches tested by the FSAI.

Following the FSA’s announcement last week on the Novel Foods position, we observed that many so-called experts were coming out of the woodwork and positing questions that, if they held the expertise that they assert, they would know the answer to.

Clarification of the FSA position statement on 13 February 2020. For those who have not been involved in the design of the structure, the FSA’s announcement took many by surprise. Quite understandably, market participants were digesting the Food Standard Agency’s morning announcement and asking themselves, and the wider industry questions about what it meant and how it would be implemented.