The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently submitted to Congress a report on its latest efforts to test CBD products for label accuracy. Of nearly 150 products tested for cannabinoid content, the FDA found less than half contained the amount of CBD stated on the label.
The agency added that from now on, it would use sampling methodology to create a representative, random sample of the CBD product marketplace. Currently, thousands of CBD products are being sold in the United States.
The FDA’s report left CBD industry advocates wanting more. U.S. Hemp Roundtable criticized that “there’s not much news” in the FDA’s report and urged the federal agency to develop universal safety and labeling standards. “We would like to rid the marketplace of all improperly labeled products and unsafe products,” the advocacy group said. “It’s high time for the FDA to regulate CBD as a dietary supplement and food additive…an unregulated marketplace poses real health and safety concerns.”
The Consumer Brands Association — a group representing the consumer packaged goods industry— said the FDA’s report demonstrated further need for federal regulation. “Allowing bad actors to continue to put products on the market, unchecked, is a threat to consumer safety everywhere,” said Betsy Booren, CBA’s senior vice president for regulatory and technical affairs. At Asterra Labs, we are not waiting for FDA regulations before doing the right thing. We voluntarily surpass CBD industry standards in three critical ways that differentiate us from competitors:
- Our ingredients meet or exceed guidelines established by The United States Pharmacopeia (USP),
- We follow stringent current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP).
- We rely upon a completely independent outside laboratory to test all of our company’s products for quality and purity, and to ensure that each product contains the amount of CBD stated on the package.