Goodbody Health Inc. (AQSE:GDBY) Director George Thomas caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the Novel Foods submission process, what the FSA public list means to the company and the implications to the consumer.
Q1: George, can you just explain for us the Novel Foods submission process?
A1: Back in the end of 2019/early 2020, Goodbody Health put together a Novel Food application and submitted it to the FSA, and within that application, there are certain dossiers.
The dossiers detailed our raw materials that we use and also our final products and as part of that, we had to do a stability study to ensure that the products were stable and safe over time. We’ve also combined efforts with a consortium, with our local body that we work with called the ACI and we’ve been doing genotox and toxicology studies, which again, ensure that the products are safe over a period of time.
Within that dossier as well, we have to submit a range of additional data and it’s a very long process but we are at a great first step as of today, with the announcement of this new list.
Q2: What does the FSA public list announcement mean?
A2: It’s a three stage approach so you essentially put your application together and then what today is that they’ve recognised all the applications and they’ve essentially put together a list of permitted products that can remain available for sale.
So, there’s thousands of companies or products that have been submitted and we are luckily enough to have our continued listings or now permission to continue to sell them.
As part of original application, we had to demonstrate that those products were available for sale and show evidence that they’re available for sale prior to February 2019. So, they are quite strict with new entries of products into the market and they’re only really permitting those that have been around for sale prior to that date.
So it’s great news for us. It allows us to continue to sell and continue to make new batches of our existing products that we’ve had now permitted for, it’s going to have a bit of a shake up in the market because those products that aren’t on that list are now subject to potential enforcement from trading standards.
We’ve been actually welcoming this regulation and this change for a while now because there is a lot of brands on the market and not a lot of people are doing it correctly. This is a real step forward to hopefully kick out some of the cowboys in the market and allow the people that are actually putting their standpoint on quality and compliance to strive forward.
Q3: What does this mean then to Goodbody Health?
A3: It’s brilliant news. It demonstrates that we have a true regulatory and compliant standpoint with our products and it gives us definitely a commercial edge with any negotiations moving forward. There’s a reduction of other competitors in the market and, like I said, we very much welcome it.
It shows that there is a new quality standard in the market that we are working towards.
Q4: What’s the implication for a consumer?
A4: Well, I think it’s great for the consumer, there is now reassurance that products are safe. Although this Novel Foods application process is not finished, the first step is an identification of products that are permitted to continue to be sold, which have an understanding of safety around them.
So, it’s great for us, there’s a greater acceptance of products on the market now and for us, hopefully it will lead to wider use of CBD and with wider use comes more, hopefully, supply and then demand on the market. The price of products may come down and also, now the big buyers and the supermarkets will suddenly be less scared to put these products on their shelves.
So it’s a really, really good time for the CBD industry with this new list being published.
