Focus On CBD: 12 August

By Jimmy Nicholls Jimmy.Nicholls@thegrocer.co.uk 

Publishing: 12 August 2023
Advertising deadline: 28 July 2023
Submissions deadline: 21 July 2023

More than a year after the FSA published a whitelist of CBD products that could remain on sale, progress on establishing their safety has been sluggish. Less than half the products have been confirmed as ready for a risk assessment, and applicants are growing frustrated. Moods are unlikely to be improve by an FSA review mooting something completely different for regulating novel foods in the future. So what’s preventing progress on the novel food applications for CBD? What impact is it having on the category? And how are brands and retailers continuing to build the category in the circumstances?

Regulatory progress: With most CBD products on the FSA list not even ‘validated’ as ready for risk assessment, what’s causing the hold up?

Category growth: How is CBD growing in UK retail? Has the FSA regime helped legitimise the category, or is it preventing growth?

Sales strategy: Given the difficulties, how are brands and retailers building the CBD category? Which brands are seeing success, and why? What are retailers doing to grow sales?

CBD content: With hydrophobic CBD being a difficult ingredient to put into drinks, some are warning that levels of the substance are not always what it says on the tin. How prevalent is the problem, and can it be fixed?