With the recent passage of recreational cannabis in multiple states, there is greater concern for safety within the cannabis edibles industry. How the industry addresses the various concerns associated with edibles will be important for the long term success and growth of this unique market segment. One of the main concerns with cannabis edibles is how to prevent under age and/or unintentional consumption. Proper packaging and labeling are not enough, therefore extra measures must be taken to prevent accidental ingestion by both children and adults.
The state of Colorado was the first to address the edibles labeling issue, mandating all cannabis edibles produced and sold must be marked with a symbol on the food product itself. Colorado edibles manufacturers are complying with the on-food labeling requirement in a variety of ways, including imprinting the state mandated safety symbol directly into the products, using lasers to mark them or applying edible decals such as Cannacals™.
Baked Smart’s exclusive product, Cannacals™, is the industry’s first edible safety decals made for easy and direct application to edibles. They make it possible to quickly distinguish an unpackaged, infused edible from an unpackaged regular food item. Cannacals™ are available to manufacturers of edibles in commercial applications and they will also be available in the near future to individuals who create their own edibles at home.
According to Baked Smart President Michael Treadway, “Baked Smart is very excited about the momentum that the cannabis movement is gaining and we want to help ensure that the implementation of common sense safety protocols maintain pace with the speed of legalization. We are proud to offer our industry-first edible safety decals, Cannacals™, to edibles manufacturers. While packaging and labeling are key to protecting consumers, Cannacals™ offer edibles manufacturers an opportunity to take their packaging and labeling efforts a step further by inexpensively labeling food products themselves as containing cannabis”.
Baked Smart feels that a green cross should be the universal symbol that is placed directly on all edibles, as the green cross is an internationally recognized symbol for cannabis that has been used within the industry for decades.
One California edibles manufacturer that is already proactively marking their edible products with the green cross is Happy Seed. Per Scott Delk, Happy Seed’s CEO, “Let’s face it, our infused candies are delicious and they might look appealing to children. Also, we had a situation where someone was fed one of our products unknowingly and had a negative experience. When Baked Smart came along we saw an opportunity to make our product safer.” Scott went on to say ” Cannacals™ are thin, easy to apply and have no impact to the taste of our product”.
As the great cannabis legalization experiment continues, industry and government will need to work together to ensure consumers are properly educated about cannabis edibles . Just as important as the use of a universal symbol is the implementation of an education campaign that teaches children that anything with the universal symbol is medicine and not food. The use of on-food safety markings will be much more effective when they can be supported by educational awareness campaigns that teach the public, especially children, that the universal symbol means medicine is for adult use only.
Baked Smart is a Portland, Oregon based company promoting cannabis safety through the common sense marking of cannabis edible products with edible decals to prevent accidental consumption. Baked Smart works with edible manufacturers and industry organizations across the west.,
Media Contact: Matthew Treadway
3439 NE Sandy Blvd., #343
Portland, OR
228.861.6268,
http://bakedsmart.org
