Skip to main content

CBD In Food & Beverage: Three Developments To Watch In 2020

Hand holding pipette with CBD oil on wooden table

While products containing CBD are widespread, new legal developments are expected in 2020 that may … [+] affect how the products are marketed and sold in certain jurisdictions.

Getty

The cannabidiol (CBD) industry saw considerable growth in 2019, and the industry is expected to see further expansion over the new year. In the absence of clear federal guidance, sellers of products containing CBD, particularly those in the food and beverage space, should watch how three developments might affect their products and the industry as a whole.

  • Further FDA Clarification: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in November 2019 that the agency had numerous “unanswered questions and data gaps about CBD toxicity” and issued over a dozen warning letters to sellers of CBD-containing products. The FDA’s updated Consumer Update declared that marketing CBD “by adding it to a food or labeling it as a dietary supplement” is illegal. In its announcement, the FDA noted that it is continuing to explore “potential pathways for various types of CBD products to be lawfully marketed” and expects to provide an update on its “progress regarding the agency’s approach to these products in the coming weeks.” After the agency’s November announcement and warning letters, manufacturers of CBD products, particularly those in food and beverage categories, should watch how the FDA clarifies and enforces its position on CBD-containing products over the new year.
  • State and Local Action: Without clear federal guidelines, states have created a regulatory patchwork of often conflicting rules across the country. As one headline put it: “Headaches abound as states try to clarify [the] CBD landscape.” Some states, such as Maryland, have declared it illegal to add CBD to food products. Similarly, New York City regulators have embargoed food and drink products containing CBD. Media reports note that City officials have ordered at least five restaurants to stop selling CBD-containing food and drink products and that enforcement of the embargo includes fines ranging from $200 to $650. For 2020, the industry should watch how states continue to take action in the absence of clear federal guidance. For example, New York State recently passed a new law, effective in March 2020, that establishes a regulatory framework for the sale of CBD-containing products in the state.  State officials are expected to issue new regulations fleshing out the law in the coming weeks.
  • Class Action Litigation: Given the ambiguity around applicable rules surrounding CBD-containing products, particularly those in the food and beverage industry, private party litigation is expected to increase in the coming year. Already several federal class action lawsuits have been lodged against manufacturers of CBD products alleging that the products are “illegal to sell” and therefore violate state consumer protection laws.   While the CBD industry has expected an “avalanche” of class action cases for some time, the already-filed class action lawsuits suggest that the “CBD lawsuit floodgates are opening.”

Federal and state regulators are contemplating further action over the coming year. So too are additional private party plaintiffs, who are poised to present putative class action allegations given the “language of the FDA’s recent pronouncements and the widespread availability of CBD-containing products.” Manufacturers of CBD-containing products, particularly those in the food and beverage space, should be aware of these developments over the coming year.

Original Article Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommytobin/2020/12/31/cbd-in-food–beverage-three-developments-to-watch-in-2020/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Feds Hire Hazmat Firm For Marijuana Eradication Training

An ambitious campaign to decriminalize psychedelics in Washington, D.C., is one step closer to placing their measure on the November ballot with the formal submission of tens of thousands of voter signatures. Organizers have been scrambling for weeks to collect enough signatures from D.C. voters by Monday’s deadline amid historically difficult circumstances: a global pandemic, months of stay-at-home orders and protests over racism and police violence that filled the streets of the nation’s capital. But with the help of innovative signature-gathering techniques and allies flown in from across the country, advocates said they had successfully submitted upwards of 35,000 signatures—more than enough to qualify the initiative. If approved by voters, Initiative 81 would make enforcement of laws against plant- and fungus-based psychedelics among the “lowest law enforcement priorities” for the Metropolitan Police Department. It would not, however, legalize or reduce penalties for the substa...

FDA Warns 15 Companies For Illegally Selling CBD Products

The agency also released a consumer update about CBD , the non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana increasingly used to treat pain and anxiety. Until it learns more about the effectiveness and safety of CBD, the FDA said it cannot generally recognize the ingredient as safe or approve products that contain it. “We remain concerned that some people wrongly think that the myriad of CBD products on the market, many of which are illegal, have been evaluated by the FDA and determined to be safe, or that trying CBD ‘can’t hurt,‘” FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy said. The FDA sent letters to the following 15 companies for selling CBD products that violate the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, for marketing the products to treat illnesses or for therapeutic use, claiming it’s a dietary supplement or adding it to food for humans and animals. -Red Pill Medical Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona -Pink Collections Inc. of Beverly Hills, California -Healthy Hemp Strategies LLC (does ...

New York Governor Will Visit Legal Marijuana States To Take Lessons Back Home

One week after bills to decriminalize marijuana in Virginia were passed by both the House and Senate , they advanced again on Wednesday in committee votes, where they were revised in an effort to ease the path to the governor’s desk. The goal was to make the language of the bills identical, with lawmakers hoping to streamline the process by avoiding sending differing pieces of decriminalization legislation to a bicameral conference committee to resolve differences. The House of Delegates and Senate were under pressure to approve their respective versions of decriminalization ahead of a crossover deadline last week. After clearing floor votes in their respective chambers, the Senate-passed bill was sent to the House Court of Justice Committee, while the House’s legislation was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Those panels amended the bills and advanced them on Wednesday, with senators voting 10-4 to advance the revised legislation and delegates voting 8-5. However, the Sen...