Filed with Secretary of State in October 2015, Assembly Bill No. 243 otherwise known as California's Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act has been in effect for a month now, but the State's Department of Public Health has failed to produce an Implementing Rules and Regulations on the food safety standards for so-called edibles.
There is no question about the medicinal benefits of cannabis ranging from reducing nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, improving appetite in people with HIV/AIDS and treating chronic pain, among the other health benefits.
The worry of food companies that uses cannabis as part of their food ingredients is that they had to take off the nutritional facts label on their products. They are not allowed by their local city health department to include nutrition facts label on the popular products they make and sell for human consumption. An Oakland, Calif.-based business Auntie Dolores Kitchen shares the same sentiments as the other food companies. There is a great challenge for edibles manufacturers like Auntie Dolores utilizing carbon dioxide (CO2) extraction, often referred to as supercritical fluid extraction, as the method of procuring cannabis concentrate for its products such as gourmet snack items. Cannabis foods, more commonly known as edibles, are made with an herbal or resin form of cannabis as an ingredient. These foods are consumed as an alternate means to experience the effects of cannabinoids without smoking or vaporizing cannabis or hashish.
In 2010, the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, Part 101 on Food Labeling holds no authority over any Auntie Dolores' commercial offering. This is what brings panic to food manufacturers and food companies integrating cannabis in their food.
The most famous Edible Cannabis Chef Founder and CEO Julianna Carella of Auntie Dolores urged the SFDPH to allow them to keep the labels for food safety purposes because sick people eat their products, including diabetics and cancer patients with specific dietary needs. She added that they need to be able to read and understand what exactly is in them to get the appropriate dose of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the primary active substance in cannabis.
