REGAFFAIRS AI
ANSWERS · 4 OCT 2026

Is cannabidiol (CBD) authorised as a novel food in the EU, and what is the status of CBD food products in Great Britain under the FSA public list? Cite the official sources.

No. Cannabidiol is not authorised as a novel food in the EU, and it is not yet authorised in Great Britain either. In GB, the FSA has only recommended that ministers authorise the first three CBD applications (September 2026 board). The FSA public list shows which products may stay on sale while their applications are assessed. Being on that list is not an authorisation.

Approach: I checked the EU Novel Food Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, EFSA Journal outputs on CBD, and the FSA list of CBD products linked to novel food applications (England and Wales). The Commission's Union list and the latest FSA/GOV.UK decisions are not in my datasets. For those I used official EU and FSA web pages, and those parts rest on search snippets.

EU: not authorised

  • The law. Under Article 6 of Regulation 2015/2283, only novel foods authorised and included in the Union list may be placed on the EU market [1]. The Commission treats CBD as a novel food [2].
  • EFSA 2022 statement. EFSA's NDA Panel concluded that the safety of CBD as a novel food "cannot currently be established". Its reasons were data gaps on the liver, gut, endocrine and nervous systems, interactions with drug metabolism, and reproductive toxicity seen in animal studies [2].
  • EFSA updated statement (adopted 16 December 2025, published 2026).
    • New literature does not close the 2022 gaps [3].
    • EFSA set a provisional safe dose of 0.0275 mg/kg bw per day, about 2 mg/day for a 70 kg adult [3].
    • That dose applies only to food supplement formulations with CBD purity of at least 98%, without nanoparticles, where the production process is considered safe and genotoxicity is ruled out [4].
    • EFSA says safety cannot be established for people under 25, pregnant or lactating women, or people taking other medicines [5].
  • EFSA opinions on individual applications. All four concluded that safety cannot be established:
    • two on synthetic CBD (2025) [6][7]
    • a CO₂ extract of Cannabis sativa (adopted 4 March 2026) [8]
    • a CBD isolate (adopted 4 May 2026) [9]
  • Commission decisions (from search snippets, not a complete list). The Commission's "Decisions terminating the procedure" page lists several 2026 Implementing Decisions, dated February to June 2026, that close CBD applications without updating the Union list. They cover CBD from Cannabis sativa, tinctures, distillates, isolates, oils and synthetic CBD.

Great Britain: FSA public list and authorisation status

What the FSA public list holds (data.food.gov.uk, England and Wales list; latest update 13 April 2026):

StatusProducts
ValidatedMore than 10,000 (my retrieval stopped at 10,000, so the exact total isn't shown)
Removed1,039
Awaiting evidence702
  • The FSA says being validated or included on the list is not an authorisation.
  • Example of a validated entry: "1000mg CBD Gummies 100'S", linked to applications RP-349 and RP-427 [10].
  • Example of a removed entry: a Lucovital CBD 5% oil linked to RP-838, removed 17 December 2025 [11].
  • Among validated products, RP-427 is the most-linked application (2,542 products), followed by RP-438 (1,496) and RP-349 (1,257) [12].

Where authorisation stands (FSA and GOV.UK pages, from search snippets):

  • The FSA and Food Standards Scotland published positive safety opinions on the first three applications:
    • RP 7 (synthetic CBD)
    • RP 350 (CBD isolate)
    • RP 427 (CBD isolate)
  • All three are at least 98% pure CBD, for adults, at up to 10 mg/day.
  • At its September 2026 board, the FSA recommended that ministers authorise them. Proposed conditions:
    • a label showing the provisional acceptable daily intake of 10 mg/day
    • warnings for under-18s; people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive; and people taking medication or who are immunosuppressed
    • strict limits on Δ9-THC and other controlled cannabinoids
  • About 3,000 products on the public list are linked to these three applications.
  • Ministers make the final decision, and a statutory instrument is needed to update the GB register. I found no official source showing that this has happened yet.

EU vs GB at a glance:

  • Safe intake: EFSA's provisional figure (about 2 mg/day) is far below the FSA/ACNFP–COT provisional intake of 10 mg/day.
  • Market access: the EU has no transitional list of products allowed to stay on sale; GB tolerates products on its public list while applications are assessed.

Sources:

SOURCES · 12

  1. [1]Article 6: Union list of authorised novel foods [NovelFoods 02015R2283-20210327] · p.1EU
  2. [2]10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7322 - Statement on safety of cannabidiol as a novel food: data gaps and uncertainties · p.1EFSA
  3. [3]10.2903/j.efsa.2026.9862 - Update of the statement on safety of cannabidiol as a novel food · p.23EFSA
  4. [4]10.2903/j.efsa.2026.10124 - Safety of cannabidiol isolate from Cannabis sativa L. as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 · p.3EFSA
  5. [5]10.2903/j.efsa.2026.9862 - Update of the statement on safety of cannabidiol as a novel food · p.24EFSA
  6. [6]10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9708 - Safety of synthetic cannabidiol as a Novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 · p.8EFSA
  7. [7]10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9527 - Safety of synthetic cannabidiol as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 · p.8EFSA
  8. [8]10.2903/j.efsa.2026.10004 - Safety of carbon dioxide extract from Cannabis sativa L. as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 · p.9EFSA
  9. [9]10.2903/j.efsa.2026.10124 - Safety of cannabidiol isolate from Cannabis sativa L. as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 · p.9EFSA
  10. [10]1000mg CBD Gummies 100'SFSA
  11. [11]076096 Lucovital CBD Cannabidiol 5% oilFSA
  12. [12]1000mg CBD MCT Oil - Unflavoured in a 10ml bottleFSA
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