Leading CBD brands are following the guidance of the FSA and reducing their formulations down to 10mg per serving, The Grocer can reveal.
Both Trip and Goodrays have elected to reformulate their sparkling CBD drinks down to 10mg, the latest update to the FSA’s CBD public list shows.
It comes after the FSA encouraged businesses to meet its CBD provisional acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 10 mg per day last summer.
Approached by The Grocer, Trip confirmed it had reformulated its CBD drinks last year, cutting the amount of CBD per can from 15mg to 10mg. Its CBD gummies contain 10mg per serving (one gummy), while its CBD oils contain between 300mg and 1,000mg per 15ml bottle.
Trip managing director James Edmunds said that whilst CBD remained an important part of the brand’s offer, its Mindful Blend products – which contain magnesium, ashwagandha and L-theanine but no CBD – now made up over 90% of its drinks sales in the UK.
Interest in magnesium had “clearly grown exponentially” and ahead of CBD since mid-2023, Edmunds said, citing Google Trends data.
However, consumers were increasingly shopping “by brand first, then flavour and functionality ahead of single ingredients like magnesium or CBD”, he noted.
Goodrays, meanwhile, has cut the amount of CBD in its drinks from 30mg to 10mg. The new products are rolling out in retail from this month, and the brand also plans to reformulate its CBD gummies down from 25mg to 10mg per serving at a later date, The Grocer understands.
“While our own CBD has shown safety levels up to 105mg per day in independent studies, we’re fully supportive of the FSA’s work to fully market authorise CBD,” Goodrays founder Eoin Keenan said. “The FSA has recommended that all suppliers reformulate to the new ADI and we believe it’s in the best interest of the industry, retailers and the consumers to align on that recommendation.”
Goodrays launched its own non-CBD drinks range called Re;Focus last October. The products, which contain lion’s mane, magnesium and electrolytes, are stocked in Waitrose and Morrisons.
But the market for CBD remained vibrant and Goodray’s CBD range was still in strong growth, Keenan insisted.
“CBD still remains the most valuable segment in functional drinks and is continuing to grow rapidly at 19.2% year on year,” he said, citing NIQ data. “Within CBD, Goodrays is leading the way as the fastest-growing CBD brand, delivering 32.1% value growth, well ahead of the overall category and competitors such as Trip.”
Last autumn, the FSA recommended to ministers that CBD products linked to three novel food applications be authorised for sale, subject to a public consultation.
The applications RP07, RP350 and RP427 are the first to have successfully progressed past initial safety assessment. They are linked to more than a third of the 8,147 validated products on the FSA’s public list, including those from Pureis, Cannaray, Medahuman, Supreme, Orange County and Hip Pop.
Presently, CBD food products are permitted for sale in the UK provided they are on the FSA’s public list. However, no products have received legal authorisation.
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