Washington, D.C., February 18, 2020 – In response to a statement issued February 13 by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), announcing its recently set deadline for CBD authentication, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, issued the following statement:
Statement by Steve Mister, president & CEO, CRN:
“CRN commends the FSA for creating a legal pathway for CBD in dietary supplements and for its commitment to consumer safety. FSA set a deadline for the CBD industry in the UK to submit valid novel food authorization applications by March 31, 2021 and recommended an upper limit of 70 mg a day for healthy adults. After March 31 next year, any products that have not submitted a valid application cannot stay in the market. CRN has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) similarly to provide a clear path forward for the U.S. marketplace for over a year, but the agency continues to fail to address the growing, unregulated CBD market in the U.S.
CRN urges the FDA to follow the lead of the FSA and to exercise the statutory discretion provided to it in the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act to recognize CBD as a lawful new ingredient for use in dietary supplements. Once FDA opens the dietary supplement lane to CBD, it can begin enforcing existing regulations for dietary supplements that assure their quality and safety against companies marketing CBD as dietary supplements. Over 20 million Americans take CBD dietary supplements and FDA’s continued inaction creates safety risks to consumers and inhibits a legal pathway to market for responsible companies. CRN will continue to be a voice for responsible marketers of CBD and work to create a regulatory path forward.”
Note to Editor: The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing 150+ dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and companies providing services to those manufacturers and suppliers. In addition to complying with a host of federal and state regulations governing dietary supplements and food in the areas of manufacturing, marketing, quality control and safety, our manufacturer and supplier members also agree to adhere to additional voluntary guidelines as well as to CRN’s Code of Ethics. Visit www.crnusa.org. Follow us on Twitter @CRN_Supplements and LinkedIn.