The legislation comes ahead of an impending end-of-year deadline set in the FY 2026 appropriations bill that is expected to remove most currently marketed intoxicating, hemp-derived THC beverages from the legal market by the end of 2026 through the closure of a loophole created by the 2018 Farm Bill.
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized the sale of hemp-derived products containing no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC, allowing a “legal” edibles and beverage market to emerge. The 2025 government shutdown reconciliation bill closed this “loophole,” effective in November.
In the U.S., as part of the appropriations bill ending the government shutdown, Congress closed the 2018 Farm Bill loophole allowing the sale of hemp-derived THC products, such as edibles and beverages. At the same time, in the EU, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set a safe intake level for Delta-8 THC in food.
AOAC International has announced that the Scope of Accreditation to ISO/IEC 17043 for the Proficiency Testing program has been expanded to include its cannabis and hemp oil programs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued warning letters to several companies for illegally selling food products containing delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that are branded to resemble popular snack products.
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA's ARS) and North Dakota State University (NDSU) recently found that cattle fed with hempseed cake, an industrial hemp byproduct, retain very low, food-safe levels of cannabinoids in muscle, liver, kidney, and fat tissues.
