A YORK brand has been named as one of the leaders of the UK CBD industry.

HempWell is based at York Science Park where it manufactures its products using CBD the owners, Philip and Lisa James, have extracted from hemp they have grown themselves in their ‘seed-to-shelf’ business model.

HempWell Ltd which has a store in High Petergate, York, has emerged as one of the top ten brands with the most applications included on a list released by the Food Standards Agency which details all of the CBD products legally allowed to be on sale in the UK.

It is also one of the top four for CBD Isolate submissions.

A total of 3,536 products were preliminarily approved by FSA as new or 'novel' foods, according to the list, released on March 31.

This list provides a comprehensive guide to consumers and local authorities of which CBD products are safe and legally approved for use in the UK.

This new regulation is in response to calls for clarity into what CBD products are safe and legal after tests revealed ‘CBD products’ on sale in the UK that contained no CBD at all.

HempWell co-founder Philip said “We had no doubt our HempWell products were high enough quality to make the list, but we are thrilled to come out as one of the top ten brands allowed to legally sell CBD in the UK.”

FSA’s novel food approval process is aimed at clarifying a flourishing grey market that has seen thousands of CBD products show up in retail outlets over the past several years without any regulations.

To qualify for consideration by the agency, those products already in distribution had to have been on the market before Feb. 13, 2020, under FSA guidelines. Any products introduced after that date were not eligible for consideration.