Consortia seem to be the way to go in the race to legalize the sale of CBD products as ‘novel food’ items. One such consortium happens to be the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) based in the UK. Through its CBD Safety Study Consortium, in partnership with the Advanced Development, and Safety Laboratory (ADSL), it filed applications in February 2021, ahead of the March deadline set by the FSA.
This consortium approach aims to ensure consistent quality standards, safety from manufacturers, and high levels of characterization in CBD commercial products. It is also meant to establish a secure footing for the CBD and non-psychotropic cannabinoid market.
Lastly, a ‘read across’ of toxicological data from primary CBD applications to consumer-based CBD products would be a part of this new assessment. This would ideally include additional bio-availability studies as it would further safeguard consumer safety and build the industry’s credibility.
As far as development goes, there’s already a variety of experimental and analytical methods available for determining both the quality and safety of plant-derived and synthetic CBD. Industrial hemp cultivation on its own involves fertilizers and pesticides or biopesticides. For synthetic CBD, extraction, and production involves various agents and producers.
Due to this, it is paramount that processors show how the production process can be best adapted with controlled and consistent purity and quality to meet the established qualifications. This, along with establishing purity and residual contaminants, would be the first step in a dossier for a health claim application for CBD products. With that initial step, because most CBD health products are consumed by users, it is wise to have clarity on the growth of the Cannabis plant and the extraction process for CBD oil.
