NEWS

NH advisory: No CBD in food

Rochester enforcement effort now part of larger picture

Kyle Stucker
kstucker@seacoastonline.com
Chef Leighton Knowles talks with customers at Fresh Vibes in Rochester about CBD-infused coffee, now banned by the city. The state has issued an advisory asking for CBD in food to be banned statewide. [Deb Cram/Fosters.com, file]

Businesses in Dover, Hampton, Exeter and other Seacoast communities said Wednesday they were still selling coffees, soft drinks, gummies and other food products infused with cannabidiol (CBD) despite a state advisory that says the products are in violation of federal health code standards.

Area health inspectors and code enforcement officials say they interpret the advisory, which the state Bureau of Public Health Protection issued Tuesday in response to media inquiries, as the state instructing them to inform businesses their food licenses could be revoked if they don’t cease selling CBD edibles.

“While it was not explicitly stated that all CBD-infused products must be pulled from shelves and taken off menus, this does appear to be the recommended action,” said James Murray, Exeter’s health officer.

Rochester was the only Seacoast community that Seacoast Media Group could verify had taken any enforcement action as of early Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this year, Lilac City staff informed roughly 12 businesses they must stop selling CBD-infused edibles because the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t list the non-psychoactive, hemp-derived compound as a permitted food additive in standards FDA adopted in 2009, according to city Building, Zoning and Licensing Services Director Jim Grant. New Hampshire’s food codes follow FDA standards, and Grant has said his staff told Rochester businesses like Fresh Vibes Cafe and Puglife Smoke and Vape they weren’t in compliance after the state Health Officers Association members brought the issue to Rochester’s attention.

The FDA’s food additive standards don’t apply to bottles of CBD oil or CBD-infused creams, which still can be legally sold in local stores, according to officials.

Rochester also took additional enforcement action Wednesday. Grant said city Health Officer Bob Veno visited the Shell gas station on Washington Street Wednesday morning after learning the business was still selling CBD edibles despite the regulatory information the city relayed to employees a few months ago.

According to Grant and a Shell employee, the business voluntarily agreed to pull its edibles from a display case near one of its cash registers.

Elsewhere on the Seacoast, Murray said he’s waiting to take any enforcement action in Exeter until the state provides more clarification about the advisory, but he said he has been in contact with businesses in his town about CBD products since the state issued the advisory.

“I feel that this will be an ongoing issue for a while, and while we wish to see businesses succeed and keep their consumers happy, we must make consumer safety our first priority,” he said.

Dover Fire Chief Eric Hagman said his department, which oversees health and other inspections in the city, will work with Dover police to educate local businesses about how federal health codes apply to CBD during site visits next week.

Portsmouth Health Officer Kim McNamara said she hadn’t had any inquiries from businesses in her city and that the city hasn’t come across a noncompliant product during its inspections. While she said she has “heard very little” about CBD in Portsmouth, she said the Port City is “on the same page” as the state in terms of enforcing food additives.

“We have not come across a product in inspection,” she said. “If we run into one at that point in time, will deal with it on inspection.”

Rochester, Exeter, Dover and Portsmouth are the only Seacoast communities out of the 15 New Hampshire municipalities that perform their own health inspections. The rest of the state relies on a handful of state employees for their food inspections and enforcement.

Grant suggests Rochester was the first in the state to enforce federal food additive standards this year because the state has limited inspection resources.

Hampton, one of the Seacoast’s state-inspected towns, has businesses that sell CBD-infused food products. As of Wednesday, Town Manager Fred Welch said town employees hadn’t been involved in any enforcement efforts involving those businesses.

“No actions have been taken in Hampton that I have been informed of,” he said.

The owners of Fresh Vibes and Puglife said last week that the restriction on edibles has impacted their bottom lines, with Puglife estimating it has lost 10 to 15 percent of its sales. Both of the Rochester businesses said customers have relayed they’re going elsewhere to get the CDB edibles they used to buy in the Lilac City to treat themselves and their pets for anxiety and other ailments.

Those comments prompted Rochester resident Kathleen Cavalaro to create a petition that calls for Gov. Chris Sununu to sign emergency legislation to grant Granite State businesses reprieve while the FDA evaluates whether to allow CBD as a food additive. Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed similar legislation earlier this year.

Sununu's office hasn't responded to requests for comment.

Cavalaro said Monday she created her petition out of fear the enforcement in Rochester could spread elsewhere and negatively affect businesses. With Tuesday’s state advisory fulfilling that prediction, Cavalaro is continuing to ask the state to step in to help businesses who may struggle due to the fact CBD edibles and cannabis are legal in neighboring states.

Local businesses have relayed they started selling CBD-infused products last summer because the regulations didn’t specifically list them as banned products. However, McNamara said that’s a flawed rationale because food additives must be specifically listed as permitted in order to be sold.

“They probably weren’t in compliance” from the very beginning, she said.