‘Last call’ for CBD Novel Food Applications

With our Novel Foods deadline just 7 days away, UK CBD industry-original and early pioneers, BRITISH CANNABIS™ are providing a much-needed lifeline to CBD brands to piggyback a products’ name onto their applications.

While no company’s applications have been validated yet by the FSA, the target date to allow the recommended 6 weeks needed to gain validation of submitted Novel Food dossiers prior to 31st March is rapidly approaching.

With many UK brands searching urgently for assistance to secure Novel Food Validation, as a market-leading manufacturer and brand-builder BRITISH CANNABIS™ is well positioned to assist those brands that are struggling to stay on the market. This could give businesses peace-of-mind by providing another option to ensure their brands remain on the UK market.

From 1st April 2021, the FSA have indicated that various Trading Standards authorities will begin to remove CBD products from sale if a novel food dossier for that product is not received and validated before then.

The manufacturing and quality control systems throughout the BRITISH CANNABIS™ supply chain ensure that finished products meet the requirements of the Novel Food Regulations, from both a regulatory and commercial perspective.

A 90-day OECD 408 Toxicity Study undertaken by BRITISH CANNABIS™ in conjunction with The Association for The Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) on its primary ingredient, will assess the effects that different delivery methods (ingestion, absorption, and inhalation) can have on the liver, and if there are any groups (children, adolescents, pregnant women) vulnerable to CBD’s effects.

The company is also undertaking a Cannabinoids Stability Programme on 5 independently produced batches of primary ingredient, in addition to testing their finished products. This programme is designed primarily to meet the “stability” assessment requirements of regulators.

As the BRITISH CANNABIS™ family of brands included in their application have been on the market for up to 5 years and their primary ingredients used in over one million product units, there is substantial usage data and evidence of safety as part of their dossier. This supports the product’s risk assessment and that they pose no risk to public health.

Providing enhanced protection from enforcement - via manufacturing facilities based in England, BRITISH CANNABIS™ is not reliant on European supply for finished products. Upon achieving novel foods application validation, the company will thus see their complete onwards supply chain covered.

At this time, in both Scotland and the European Union, there exists a continued grey area with no set timelines for novel food action. This poses some brands a risk of enforcement for a further period of one or more years for applications to be fully authorised. For brands made in England however, the starting line for successful brands comes as soon as 1st April 2021.

A Trading Standards partnership, formalised by the Home Office in January 2021, sees BRITISH CANNABIS™, The ACI and Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards working in partnership to embed regulatory compliance into the rapidly developing CBD sector. Being one of only a handful of UK companies included in the partnership will provide BRITISH CANNABIS™ and its white label clients further protection across the country.

BRITISH CANNABIS™ CEO, Tom Whettem, commented on these developments: “We have considered every safety aspect when painstakingly preparing dossiers for these 200+ products. Our partnership with the ACI has been vital for this and the support we have received as part of our membership has been invaluable for both me and the leadership team in this family-owned business.

Our products have now been on the market approaching 6 years, shipping hundreds of thousands of units and gaining thousands of fans and positive reviews in the process. It is a big motivator to me and my executive team that these customers can continue to have their lives made better by having reliable, effective, legal, cannabis-derived food supplements remain available as part of their diet”.

BRITISH CANNABIS™ has also seen a significant increase in its market share as the UK halts CBD imports from Europe following the implementation of BREXIT; with many brands facing issues with border forces and interruptions to their supply chain. With reports already of some products being impounded and destroyed, it is a worrying time for many CBD brands. Fortunately, this has not affected BRITISH CANNABIS™ and as a result some of the biggest and most loved brands have switched to this manufacturer in recent weeks.

These clients, new and existing, benefit from the rigorous in-house third-party product and batch testing that BRITISH CANNABIS™ has carried out for several years. This ensures its products continue to meet the newly updated Home Office Guidance on analytical limits for controlled cannabinoids.

Tom Whettem concluded: “we are open to all suggestions from brand owners who want to see their products’ futures secured. Linking your brand to one of our dossiers does not obligate you to have your brand manufactured by us or to our formulas, but it may be a contingency plan you should think about having up your sleeve as we enter these crucial few weeks”.

BRITISH CANNABIS™ can be reached on +44 (0) 203 965 2420 or via email at CANNABIS™ is the largest producer, manufacturer, and distributor of legal cannabis-derived products in the UK. They own and operate the largest cannabis extraction and purification facility in England and provide analytical testing, bulk extracts and white label products to the UK market leading brands.