A leading CBD brand has pulled its edible range from sale after it was taken off the Food Standards Agency’s list of tradeable products in the category.
More than 300 products by 1 Step, which is supplied by JM Wholesale, were removed from the agency’s list on 27 January, in the first major cull since publication of the register last April.
Since then, edible 1 Step products have been withdrawn from the manufacturer’s website, although bath salts and e-liquids from the brand remain on sale, as they are not covered by the FSA’s regulation.
An agency spokeswoman would not confirm the specific reason for the delisting, but said “a common reason” for removal “was failure to respond to clarification of evidence requests”.
“While the decision on enforcement on non-compliant novel foods remains with enforcement authorities, we advise that products marked as ‘removed’, or which do not appear on the list, should be removed from sale in England and Wales,” she added.
JM Wholesale did not respond to questions about why its 1 Step products had been removed.
The manufacturer has more than 400 applications on the list that are still active, albeit under different brands.
Other products removed by the FSA on 27 January fell under brands such as Green Machine, Holistic Herb, Jacob Hooy, Kiki Health, Little Rick and Mynd.
These brands still retain other active applications on the list, with the exception of Mynd.
In total 341 products were removed in the cull, bringing the number of removals since the list was launched to 408, out of a total of more than 12,000 products.
Some of these changes may be a matter of administrative housekeeping or shifts in the market, said Tom Risby, business development manager at the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry.
“The FSA, by allowing the list to balloon from 3,000 to 12,000 products, has made a market that is unsustainable as it currently stands,” he added.
“Many brands and manufacturers are having to roll back their production and sales while this whole process is elongated, and I imagine the housekeeping is part of that movement.”
The FSA spokeswoman said: “The public list is a live list, so it will continue to be updated as CBD applications move through the novel food authorisation process.”
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