UK CBD Products Move Closer to Formal Authorization

The UK Food Standards Agency reviewed three CBD novel food applications in London on September 16, 2026, moving approximately 3,000 products closer to final authorization. After more than six years of regulatory review, the UK is approaching its first formal authorizations for foods and supplements containing CBD.

If the Food Standards Agency’s board supports the recommendations, it will forward them to ministers in England and Wales for a final decision. Scotland is reviewing the applications through a separate process.

One application, made by EIHA Projects GmbH, a consortium established by the European Industrial Hemp Association, is particularly significant because it represents numerous companies that jointly financed the research and documentation required under the novel food procedure. Together, the three applications could cover approximately 3,000 individual products.

Any authorized products would need to comply with specific requirements. The proposed framework is based on the FSA’s provisional acceptable daily intake of 10 milligrams of CBD for an adult.

The recommendations would give participating businesses greater regulatory certainty after years of operating under temporary arrangements. However, that certainty may not last long.

The UK is negotiating a new sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the European Union. If novel foods are included without a special exemption, the European system could eventually replace British authorizations.

Two approaches differ greatly. While the FSA currently uses a provisional daily level of 10 milligrams, the European Food Safety Authority has proposed an amount equivalent to approximately 2 milligrams per day for a 70-kilogram adult.

CBD foods have been available in the UK for years, but no products in this category have yet completed the entire novel food authorization process.

Companies were previously permitted to keep eligible products on the FSA’s public list while their applications were assessed. That list reportedly contained almost 12,000 products in 2022 but has since fallen to approximately 3,000.

Around 800 applications were initially submitted. Only 15 progressed through the safety assessment stage, and the three applications now under consideration are the first to reach the authorization recommendation stage.

The planned UK–EU agreement will enter into force in 2027. Its ultimate scope will decide if the first UK CBD authorizations stay valid or if companies will have to start a new approval process under EU rules.