AB 228 Food, beverage, and cosmetic adulterants: industrial hemp products

This bill is part of the 2019 Cannabis Bills section of our ongoing update on California Cannabis Legislation – see the full California Cannabis Law Legislative Update which includes information on cannabis bills from other years. 

AB 228  (Aguiar-Curry D)   Food, beverage, and cosmetic adulterants: industrial hemp products.

Existing state law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, prohibits the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offer for sale of adulterated foods, beverages, or cosmetics. Existing law prescribes when a food or beverage is adulterated, including if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to the health of a person or other animal that may consume it. Existing law prescribes when a cosmetic is adulterated, including when it bears or contains a poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to users under the conditions of use prescribed in the labeling or advertisement of the cosmetic, under customary or usual conditions.

The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, among other things, regulates the labeling of food, beverages, and cosmetics and makes it a crime to distribute in commerce any food, drug, device, or cosmetic if its packaging or labeling does not conform to these provisions.

This bill would state that a food, beverage, or cosmetic is not adulterated by the inclusion of industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp, and would prohibit restrictions on the sale of food, beverages, or cosmetics that include industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp based solely on the inclusion of industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp. The bill would specify that a food, beverage, cosmetic, or other product that contains industrial hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in concentrations above 0.3% by product weight is subject to the provisions of MAUCRSA.

This bill would require the label of any package of a food, beverage, or cosmetic product containing cannabidiol derived from industrial hemp to include a specified statement. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would state that an entity that is licensed to engage in commercial cannabis activity pursuant to MAUCRSA is not prohibited from cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or selling products that contain industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp.

Read more about California Cannabis Legislation – see the full California Cannabis Law Legislative Update.

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