The CBD Crackdown Has Begun

If you like cannabidiol cupcakes and live in New York City, it’s time to learn how to bake your own. The city’s health department confirmed in a statement Tuesday that it had begun a crackdown on restaurants that use the compound—better known as CBD—as a food additive, embargoing products and warning of fines to come. In doing so, New York becomes the first major American city to begin enforcement on CBD’s questionably legal but enormously popular use in prepared food and drink. Until now, NYC consumers could find CBD in a wide range of products, including brownies, lattes, cocktails, and empanadas.

“Restaurants in New York City are not permitted to add anything to food or drink that is not approved as safe to eat,” according to a New York City Department of Health spokesperson. “Until cannabidiol … is deemed safe as a food additive, the department is ordering restaurants not to offer products containing CBD.” Eater reports that five restaurants in the city have been visited by the DOH and issued CBD embargoes so far, but because of the compound’s explosive popularity in the past year, scores more could be affected. [Read more at The Atlantic]