Germany does not consider CBD as Novel Food

The European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) has announced that it has won «an unprecedented victory in the discussion on the generally authorized trade and sale of products containing hemp. CBD« . The German federal government and the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) are in fact following EIHA's position that «foodstuffs containing parts of the hemp plant are in principle not »novel« foodstuffs within the meaning of EU regulations».»

The evolution, announced in a LinkedIn publication, is important to enlighten European stakeholders and clarify the rules concerning hemp extracts, including CBD, in European foodstuffs.

Thus, «food products made from hemp or traditional extracts and containing the full spectrum of natural cannabinoids contained in the hemp plant are not novel foods,» said Daniel Kruse, President of the EIHA, of the BMEL's approval. «For the German hemp food industry, this declaration by the government and the ministry is an important step.»

EIHA said it remains to be seen whether another German agency, the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), will amend and correct a previous publication on CBD which, according to EIHA and German stakeholders, is incorrect.

The controversy in fact stems from a BVL publication on «Dietary supplements with cannabidiol (CBD)» from March 2019, stating that the agency was «currently not aware of any cases in which cannabidiol (CBD) could be found in foodstuffs, i.e. also in dietary supplements.»

This BVL evaluation considered that all hemp-based foods were to be submitted to Novel Food, a European food safety scheme that requires a costly and time-consuming registration process.

The EIHA's position is that leaves and flowers derived from industrial hemp are not Novel Food and should be regulated as simple foods or dietary supplements. Equally, extracts from hemp grown legally in Europe and produced using traditional extraction technologies should not be considered Novel Food.

«BVL must differentiate between extracts with the full natural spectrum of cannabinoids contained in the hemp plant on the one hand and extracts with the full natural spectrum of cannabinoids contained in the hemp plant on the other. products enriched with isolates or cannabinoids on the other. Otherwise, there will be even more uncertainty for the food industry and hemp consumers in Germany,» said EIHA.