Inside a CBD tale that’s not so novel

The nascent CBD food and drink market is in flux. An ongoing novel foods approval process by the Food Standards Agency since 2020 was complicated in early April when a list of CBD products that could continue trading erroneously omitted hundreds of lines, with an update in late April adding a further 2,500 products to the list. Another update to the list is expected before July.

But what’s also caused confusion is that there’s a class of CBD food and drink that is in fact exempt from the novel foods process altogether: products that use hemp as the source of the CBD.

With hemp, the CBD occurs naturally, rather than being extracted. And as cold-pressed hemp oils have been sold and consumed before 1997, when the novel foods legislation kicked in, they are not subject to the authorisation process, so crucially do not need to be on the FSA’s notorious list to be legally traded.

That’s what attracted Michael Fitzgerald to hemp when he set up Body & Mind Botanicals. And it’s gained significant traction since launching in 2018, winning listings in more than 600 stores, including Partridges of London, Daylesford Organic, Planet Organic and Amazon, as well as specialist websites and its own DTC site.

So how did Body & Mind come about? How has it achieved growth? And what are its plans for the future?

Fitzgerald’s initial interest was piqued while researching alternative treatments to help a close relative suffering from multiple sclerosis. Spurred by World Health Organization reports at the time outlining a host of conditions that CBD could treat – from his own insomnia to stress, depression, chronic pain, arthritis and inflammation – and aware of growing interest and the novel foods process, Fitzgerald believed there was an opportunity in hemp-based CBD to steal a march.

Quality issues

But in looking to set up a white label brand, he was also struck by the poor quality, consistency and taste of oils he sampled. “It felt you were buying products on the dark web. I didn’t feel confident there was anything to put my name behind, even from the US.”

The only option, he decided, was to set up a supply chain from seed to sale. With business partner Martin Kaprockyj, an organic farmer in Lithuania was found to grow the seeds, while manufacturing and distribution facilities were established near Northampton.

The first product, launched in November 2018, was a cold-pressed oil (rsp: £6.99/250ml), but after extensive trials using different varieties and processes the hemp is also ground, or used raw, in products spanning CBD chocolates (rsp: £3.99/15g), cannabis seasoning and even dog treats, as well as capsules (rsp: £13.99/90), bath bombs and a roll-on CBD applicator.

But the bestselling line is the range of Great Taste award-winning teas (from £9.99/10). B&MB developed a patent-pending process for the range of CBD teas to ensure the CBD qualities aren’t lost during the brewing process but Fitzgerald also puts its success down to the usage occasion.

“Customers are not used to taking an oil. That’s still quite foreign, but drinking a cup of herbal tea has been done with peppermint and camomile for years.”

Talks with major multiples pre-Covid – “to bring our high-quality, organic tea to the market at a price point where it becomes almost a staple of the basket” – have only just resumed following the pandemic, but the feedback, says Fitzgerald, is “absolutely fantastic”.

He’s also confident that, despite the confusion caused by the FSA’s initial guidance, Body & Mind Botanicals will continue to grow, with the support of its wholesalers (CLF, Tree of Life and Falcon Fine Foods) and stockists as awareness of CBD grows.

“Misunderstanding of the regulations continues to hinder the industry, but Body & Mind Botanicals is at the forefront of producing the most compliant CBD products on the market. We were the first CBD manufacturer to be certified organic by the Soil Association, the first and only SALSA food certified, and the first to form a primary authority partnership with Trading Standards. At every step, we’ve done it the right way. It’s been difficult and expensive. But we will prevail.”