Scotland: no novel food deadline
F
ood Standards Scotland (FSS), the
body responsible for regulating
CBD and novel foods in the country,
has not followed its counterpart in
England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
in setting a deadline by which
companies should have submitted a
novel food application.
Earlier this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA)
said it was giving companies until 31st March 2021
to apply for novel foods status, otherwise their
product would be taken off the shelves.
However, the FSA’s Scottish counterpart was not so
quick to set a date. The FSS’s chief executive, Geoff
Ogle, said that CBD food manufacturers should
apply to the Commission for novel foods authorisa-
tion, but that it would not set a date for removal of
non-compliant items from the market.
He added: “While more evidence is needed to deter-
mine the safety of CBD food products in Scotland,
which the authorisation process will assess, there
has not been any significant increase in incidents in
relation to this ingredient.”
Meanwhile the equivalent body for the Republic of
Ireland, the Food Standards Agency of Ireland
(FSAI), told CBD-Intel that unauthorised novel foods
should not be on the market at all.
The agency recently performed its own survey of
food and food supplements containing hemp or
derivatives available on the Irish market. It said that
34% of the items it surveyed required novel food
authorisation and thus should not be on the market.
The survey also found a variety of other issues
including 41% having CBD levels differing from
declared content by 50% or more – including some
that contained only trace levels of CBD despite
declaring significant levels on the label, and 50%
making unpermitted claims. “These claims included
unauthorised nutrition or health claims, possible
medicinal claims and misleading lactose free,
gluten free and non-GMO claims,” the FSAI said.
It also found that 84% of the products contained
THC to some level or another, with 37% containing
levels of THC that if consumed at the maximum
stated dosage could significantly exceed the
European Food Safety Authority’s safe limit of 1µg
per kg of body weight per day.
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