Time to give a shout out about a great step forward regulating the CBD industry and make products safer for CBD consumers.
As you have become aware, CBD is still a largely unregulated industry, which means there have been many companies selling mislabelled products, putting consumers at potential risk of harm and giving the whole industry a bad name. Fortunately, in the U.K., the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has stepped in.
This is great news for everyone here at Life Spark CBD and our customers as it helps our high-quality products to stand out from the crowd of inferior ones even more and gives you – the CBD consumer – extra protections and product quality guarantees.
The EU Novel Food Regulations explained
What exactly is the Food Standards Agency going to be doing? Let’s first look at the background and what led to them stepping in.
There are a series of laws called the EU Novel Food Regulations which require any food, or food ingredients, which don’t have a history of public consumption before May 1997, to be evaluated and authorised before they can be sold to customers.
In January 2019, CBD was declared to be a novel food product, falling within these regulations.
This decision meant that anyone wanting to continue selling CBD had to go under the scrutiny of the FSA for each of their products.
The FSA gave the CBD industry until 31 March 2021 to submit their novel food authorisation applications.
After 1 April 2021, the only CBD products which are legally allowed to be sold are those which are linked to a valid application submitted to the FSA. Only CBD businesses which have met these stringent criteria are allowed to sell their existing CBD products.
And of course, here at Life Spark CBD, we spent months meticulously working on thoroughly documenting all our products for EU Novel Foods. The result: we can legally continue selling our high-quality products for our customer’s wellbeing.
Toxicological information
An important aspect of EU Novel Foods is that any CBD company whose application has been validated, provided clear evidence that its products met the toxicology requirements.
This required toxicology testing of all CBD products, including studies and protocols taken over time. The FSA does not accept papers as evidence – it requires specific tests and studies to be completed on products in order to enable a complete risk assessment.
The FSA have also issued health and safety guidance to consumers until the application processes have been fully undertaken and CBD has been signed off as officially safe – even though there is nothing to demonstrate otherwise.
It is advised not to take CBD if you are pregnant or breastfeeding and have issued consumer advice on the consumption of CBD for healthy adults and vulnerable groups – the FSA recommends no more than 70mg a day unless under medical direction.
They are asking all CBD companies to share this advice with their customers, and at Life Spark CBD, not only do we already have this on our website, but we provide safe dosing information with all of our products.
Why is all this needed?
So, consumers can relax knowing that what they think they are buying is precisely that!
Unfortunately, as you know, we’ve campaigned very strongly about the problems of mislabelled, harmful, or low-quality CBD products being sold to the public. EU Novel Foods is striving to stop these unscrupulous CBD business practices.
You can read more about this on our last blog but without regulation, currently some companies are selling CBD with incorrect labelling, meaning you could be buying something with less CBD than you think, making your dosing ineffective. Or worse, without third party lab reports, you could be buying a toxic product with harmful contaminants without even knowing it.
Another example with mislabelling and lack of regulation, currently consumers are risking the fact that some products might have more THC than they realise or is even legal. This could put you at risk of failing drug tests at work or with sports teams. It’s a risk that consumers should not have to take. EU Novel Foods gives an extra layer of protection to consumers that we welcome here at Life Spark CBD, as we go the extra mile to make sure all of our products are completely 0.0% THC. You can read more about our Zero THC CBD here.
Consumers have chosen CBD because they want to get their life back on track by boosting their health or enhancing their sporting performance, so the last thing they want is to buy a product that doesn’t work.
So, which CBD products can still be sold now?
Only CBD products that have made the FSA Public List! The FSA Public List is for CBD products linked to EU Novel Foods credible applications for authorisation with the FSA.
As of March 31, last year, the only CBD products that can still be sold legally in England are those which are linked to novel food applications and meet the following criteria:
- they were on the market at the time of the FSA announcement on CBD (13 February 2020)
- the FSA received an authorisation application for the products by 31 March 2021
- the FSA validated the application or agreed that it is sufficiently progressing towards validation
All CBD products must comply with other legislative requirements and should not be:
- incorrectly labelled
- unsafe
- regarded as controlled substances
All Life Spark CBD products are on the FSA Public List!!
Here is confirmation of Life Spark CBD’s inclusion on the Public List: https://data.food.gov.uk/cbd-products/products-list?search=life+spark+cbd
Can companies who are not on the list still sell CBD?
Products not on the Public List should be removed from sale.
According to the FSA, any products which do not appear on the list or are marked as ‘Removed’ must be withdrawn from sale as the related novel food application has not been approved.
Also, from 13 February 2020, no new CBD extracts, isolates or associated final products, including new brands, should be put on the market until they have the necessary authorisation. A validated application is not sufficient to put new products on the market.
You’re in good hands with Life Spark CBD!
Proudly, Life Spark CBD’s products have been linked in two master EU Novel Food applications with the FSA.
Formal certification will take several years to achieve. To date, no CBD producer in Europe or the UK has received full CBD EU Novel Foods certification and it is expected that it will take several years for it to be completed. Once completed this legislation will formally certify that CBD, in various forms, is safe to consume.
Until then, you can have confidence in all Life Spark CBD products and their superior quality.
EU Novel Foods creates a unique opportunity for some CBD companies to grow their business, but sadly, this legislation will also end many sellers’ journeys in the CBD industry. Count on, Life Spark CBD. We’re here for the long run!
