The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), alongside the Federal Trade Comission (FTC), has issued a further five ‘warning’ letters to companies illegally selling copycat food items containing Delta-8 THC.
It comes amid wider efforts to crack down on the flourishing intoxicating hemp industry federally, with an amendment to the upcoming US Farm Bill specifically targeting these products.
Compounds like HHC and Delta-8 THC have proliferated across the US in recent months, and while a number of individual states have moved to regulate them, they remain legal and sparsely regulated at a federal level.
This has driven a rise in copycat food products which contain intoxicating hemp-derived ingredients, that are often poorly labelled, ‘extremely easy to purchase and often available to youth’.
Back in 2022, the FDA issues a warning to consumers about the sharp rise in these products, and now suggests that between January 01, 2021 and December 31, 2023, the FDA received over 300 adverse event reports involving children and adults who consumed Delta-8 THC products.
Nearly half of these reportedly ended in hospitalization or emergency department visits, and two thirds of these followed the ingestion of Delta-8 containing food products aimed at children, including candy and brownies.
In a press release published earlier this week, the FDA and FTC sent five warning letters to Hippy Mood, Earthly Hemps, Shamrockshrooms.com, Mary Janes Bakery Co. LLC and Life Leaf Medical CBD Center, while the FDA sent another letter independently to GrowGod LLC.
According to the FDA and FTC, this forms part of an ‘ongoing joint effort to take action against companies selling illegal copycat food products containing Delta-8 THC’, and follows similar action taken in July last year, resulting in all the companies warned removing said products from sale.
“Inadequate or confusing labeling can result in children or unsuspecting adults consuming products with strong resemblance to popular snacks and candies that contain delta-8 THC without realizing it,” said FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Namandjé Bumpus, Ph.D.
“As accidental ingestion and/or overconsumption of delta-8 THC containing products could pose considerable health risks, the companies who sell these illegal products are demonstrating complete neglect for consumer safety. The FDA will continue to work to safeguard the health and safety of U.S. consumers by monitoring the marketplace and taking action when companies sell products that present a threat to public health.”
