More brands are to be added to the Food Standards Agency’s list of tradeable CBD ingestibles after some were missed out due to clerical errors, it has been claimed.
Several brands say they have received confirmation from the FSA they are to be added soon, though the agency has yet to officially acknowledge any mistakes were made.
This publication of the initial list on 1 April came with guidance from the FSA that ingestible CBD products not on it should be removed from sale by retailers and local authority trading standards officers.
“The FSA was aware very quickly, probably 1 April, that there were large holes in the information they published,” said Carlo Buckley, Europe MD at CBDfx, one of many brands absent from the list.
“My hope was that they would rectify it quickly and failing that, issue an immediate statement saying that the published list did not include all the products that should have been on there for whatever reason.
“Retailers should have heard about this from the horse’s mouth rather than from brands trying to limit the damage to their business that the omissions have caused.”
Read more: What’s next for the 120 CBD brands not on the FSA’s list?
It is not clear how many brands will be added to the list but sources suggest an update from the FSA is imminent.
To qualify for the list, products had to have been on the market on 13 February 2020, an application had to have been submitted by 31 March 2021, and the agency had to have validated an application or agreed it had made sufficient progress in that direction.
Figures provided by the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) last week suggested the number of CBD brands currently on sale that had failed to make the list ran to about 120.
However, the full number that failed to make the grade could be far higher. The FSA confirmed this week the 3,500 products that made the list were the result of 70 applications out of a total of 900 made since the start of 2021.
Read more: David Beckham-backed CBD brand among over 120 the FSA wants removed from sale
Of the 830 applications that did not result in products being added to the list, 680 were rejected, 42 were withdrawn by the applicant and the remainder were ineligible, the FSA said.
“Their intention was to stabilise the list, which means everybody who met all three criteria would be on the list,” said ACI director Steve Moore.
“What I think happened is they have not got all the companies that have met the criteria on the list.”
FSA policy director Rebecca Sudworth said: “We are currently reviewing queries and new evidence from businesses about the status of their products on the public list.
“If there are any changes to be made, we will update the list.”
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