CBDepot Novel Food Ingredients

CBDepot, the leading European manufacturer of legal hemp-derived and cannabinoid-related products, offers a range of cannabinoid-based products with possible applications as novel food ingredients.

CBDepot’s position is confirmed as the leader in the compliant, upmarket cannabinoid sector by having all four (for isolated and synthesized CBD in the EU and for isolated and synthesized CBD in the UK) of its submitted novel food applications validated and appearing on the shortlist of very few validated applications.

Novel Food Applications

A key issue that ethical cannabis companies must confront is the so-called Novel Food Regulation, primarily concerned with the safety of the products for end consumers and the safe marketing of the products.

CBD as a single substance has not yet been approved for use in food and is considered novel. Therefore, companies wishing to sell isolated or synthesized CBD as for use in food must have a corresponding approval. The FSA in UK has recently issued a regulation for CBD products used in food: CBD hemp extracts and CBD isolates may only be sold as foods after 31.03.2021 provided they have a valid novel food application.

CBDepot’s commitment to Novel Food compliance began in early 2016, shortly after CBDepot’s partner Cannabis Pharma launched the CBDex® brand. CBDepot’s EU application NF 2019/1371 was the first-ever CBD novel food-specific dossier to have reached validation on March 27th, 2020. The NF2019/1371 covers synthesized trans-Cannabidiol.

In 2022, all CBDepot’s Novel Food applications were declared valid by both European Commission and the UK’s Food Safety Agency (FSA). In particular, the European Commission (EC) declared CBDepot’s Novel Food application NF 2021/2283 for isolated trans-Cannabidiol as valid.

In early February 2020, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced that it would extend the  deadline for the UK CBD industry to submit valid novel food authorization applications for products  that had already been on sale at time of extension. After the deadline expired, UK FSA declared as valid CBDepot and 4MP Cannabidiol Novel Food applications.

Cannabis Novel Foods

CBDepot is one of the few companies that have a validated novel food application by the European Commission as an EU novel food for synthesized (-)-trans-cannabidiol.

Validation of the application dossier means it has passed a step in a three-tier process performed by the EU Commission and the EFSA. The first round is a basic administrative control by staff at Unit E2 at DG SANTE. It ends by publication of the EU Novel Food Public Summary at the EC food safety website.

Novel food risk evaluations

Earlier this year, Boris Baňas Chief Sales Officer for CBDepot Group, stressed there was still much research work to do in the area of novel foods to characterize the toxicity of cannabinoids. His position has since been confirmed by an article in the June 2022 edition of the EFSA Journal in which an expert panel argues that “there are knowledge gaps that need to be addressed before a conclusion on the safety of CBD can be reached.”

CBDepot points out that cannabinoid business operators need to grasp that engineered nano-materials (particle size less than 100 nm), would automatically fall under the novel food definition.

Resources

Click on All CBDepot’s Novel Food applications are now declared valid by both European Commission and the UK’s Food Safety Agency (FSA) for further information.
Click on CBDepot and 4MP Cannabidiol Novel Food applications with the UK Food Standards Agency are declared validated and verified Food Supplements for further information
Click on Conversation with Boris Baňas from CBDepot about the purpose and requirements of a novel food application to read interview with  CBDepot’s Chief Scientific Office