South Carolina Bans Certain Hemp Ingredients from Food and Beverages

Still other states are cracking down on hemp-based products for their intoxicating properties, making South Carolina's approach to hemp-containing foods one of the most extreme.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) issued the following warning: letter Effective January 22, the state bans the manufacture, distribution, and sale of food and beverage products containing hemp-derived products as an ingredient on the state's market.

Although CBD products are easy to find in most states because federal regulations are unclear, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has repeatedly stated that products containing CBD are illegal under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. I've warned you.

The FDA regularly issues warnings that adding CBD to food means the product is adulterated or prohibits products with medical claims of any kind. , the department has delayed finalizing the rule.

“As such, the following hemp products are not approved for addition to food or beverage products,” the letter reads.

• Viable unsterilized hemp seeds, raw hemp leaves, raw microgreens, and other raw, unprocessed forms of hemp biomass. These are considered “plant materials” and cannot be owned without a grower or processor license.
• pure cbd isolate
• Delta-8 THC, Delta-9 THC, or Delta-10 THC
• THC-0 or other derivatives
• “Full-spectrum” whole plant extract (i.e. “full-spectrum hemp oil/extract” from biomass) (if a health claim is included or some declaration of THC or CBD is listed)
• Hemp products that are not manufactured in a food-grade facility inspected under GMP or cGMP regulations.
• Hemp or hemp-derived products that promote medical or health benefits

The only exception is basically hemp seed derivatives. “The FDA has evaluated three Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notices regarding hemp products and found that the use of the products as described in the notices is safe. Therefore, the following hemp products are “It can be legally sold as human food and is approved for use as an ingredient in food and beverage products,” the letter continues.

“While DHEC's goal is to educate in regulating the growth of food and beverage manufacturers and distributors that include hemp-derived products as ingredients, our obligations under both federal and state law requirements are , remove from commerce all food and beverage products that contain noncompliant cannabis-derived products as an ingredient,'' Sandra Craig, director of DEHC's Food and Lead Risk Assessment Division, wrote in the letter announcing the ban. I mentioned it inside.

Sellers may use full-spectrum whole plant extracts as ingredients in food and beverage products as long as the hemp-derived ingredients meet the following requirements:

• “Full-spectrum” hemp oil or extracts from biomass contain the natural proportions and phytonutrients found in hemp.
• If full-spectrum hemp oil is used as an ingredient, it must be labeled as “full-spectrum hemp oil” or “full-spectrum hemp extract” in the ingredients list on the food or beverage label. Labels may not contain health claims and may not display any type of declaration of “THC,” “CBD,” or “Delta-9” products or isolates.
• If a South Carolina company receives “full spectrum hemp oil/extract” from an approved supplier, it must contain no more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC, as evidenced by a Certificate of Analysis (COA) must be. The use of concentrates or “developmental hemp oil from biomass” containing more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC is illegal. Companies can max out “crude” hemp-derived oil, “working” hemp oil with delta-9 THC greater than 0.3%, non-food grade oil, or hemp oil containing illegal amounts of THC (>0.3%). Do not use diluted. “legal” level. Hemp products containing THC above the legal limit are no longer considered hemp and are Schedule I drugs. In South Carolina, you are not allowed to possess hemp products that contain more than 0.3% THC, nor are you allowed to put them in food or beverages.

The letter also prohibits mentioning THC, dosage, and several other restrictions. The letter also reminds hemp sellers that they are only allowed to sell hemp products within the state.

But they're not just going after hemp-derived cannabinoid products that are synthesized from hemp biomass and known for their psychoactive effects, i.e. delta-8 THC, THC-O, etc., they're also going after CBD, hemp-containing products. It is. The same goes for leaves, plant materials, etc. Delta-8 THC exists in nature in trace amounts and must be re-added to hemp through a laboratory reflux process in sufficient amounts to become addictive. This is why states are choosing to either crack down on marijuana or regulate it like marijuana. The 2018 Farm Bill opened a loophole in the law that inadvertently legalized these foods. Delta-8 THC products have penetrated the medical market in some states.

At least a dozen other states are actively pursuing solutions that ban some form of hemp-derived products.