Colorado-based CBD extractor and private-label supplier Mile High Labs has entered a distribution deal with a subsidiary of a major UK convenience store group for its own consumer brand.
The distribution agreement for Mile High’s CBD brand Mellow Greens was struck with Nisa Retail, which is owned by The Co-operative Group.
Eleven of the brand’s CBD isolate products were made available through Nisa to a network of more than 2,500 independently owned stores starting in July, the company said in a statement.
“The UK is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world for CBD,” said John Wallace, Mile High Labs’ managing director for the UK and the EU.
The Mellow Greens product line launched in 2019 with 11 products – e-liquids, tinctures, gummies and tablets – that were being sold in UK convenience stores.
CBD extract can’t legally be sold as a food ingredient in the member countries of the European Union without premarket safety authorization due to its categorization as a “novel food” – or something not commonly eaten in the region before 1997.
Britain’s departure from the EU adds another layer of complexity to food-safety rules and how cannabinoid-containing products might be regulated moving forward: The UK officially left the EU at the end of January but has until Dec. 31 to negotiate its post-Brexit trade relationship with the bloc.
In the meantime, British food safety authorities have given CBD manufacturers until March 31 to submit information about the safety and contents of their products in the form of a Novel Food authorization application in order to remain on the market.
Mile High Labs says it submitted a Novel Food Application for bulk CBD isolate ingredients and finished products last March.
