Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Human content, AI powered search.
Latest Stories

Portman Group issues retailer alert over CBD infused gin Colorado High

Portman Group issues retailer alert over CBD infused gin Colorado High
Photo: Instagram/greenstemcbd
lenovo
Kiran Paul
By Kiran PaulJan 20, 2021
Kiran Paul
See Full Bio

The Portman Group, the self-regulatory body of UK alcoholic drinks producers, has urged retailers not to re-order CBD-infused gin Colorado High after the makers decided against reversing the product.

The move follows a decision by the Independent Complaints Panel of the trade body which upheld a complaint Silent Pool Distillery’s Colorado High CBD Gin, the first CBD infused product to be considered by the panel.

The complaint highlighted the potential breach of two rules in the Portman Group’s Code of Practice for the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks that prohibit association with illegal drugs and therapeutic qualities. The panel found the product to be in breach of both rules.

“After careful consideration, the panel decided that Colorado High was in breach of two of the Code’s rules. We would urge producers to think carefully about how they place a CBD descriptor on their product’s packaging,” commented Nicola Williams, the Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel.

“It is important that CBD is viewed as an ingredient, rather than a suggestion of therapeutic or health benefits.”

The Guildford-based Silent Pool Distillery in response stated that there was no identifiable consumer harm from the product that the public needed to be protected from.

The Portman Group issued a Retailer Alert Bulletin as the company has decided not to work with the group’s advisory service on revising the product.

The alert will be sent to over 130 Signatories of the Code which includes major supermarkets and other distributors of the product. It will allow retailers to sell any remaining stock but prevent them from re-ordering the product in its problematic form after 20 April 2021.

The Portman Group added that it is currently developing guidance to aid producers in their use of CBD in alcohol products following the decision.

The panel in its decision noted that producers should give consumers information about the inclusion of CBD as an ingredient, if present, but could convey that without referring to CBD in the product name.

cbdcolorado highportman groupsilent pool distillery

Related News

Rapper duo to launch world food store in south London
Industry News

Rapper duo to launch world food store in south London

More for you

AG Barr welcomes Dino Labbate as new Chief Commercial Officer

AG Barr welcomes Dino Labbate as new Chief Commercial Officer

Dino Labbate has been announced as the new Chief Commercial Officer at A.G. BARR plc, the branded multi-beverage business with a portfolio of market-leading UK brands, including IRN-BRU, Rubicon, FUNKIN and Boost.

Dino takes up the role from today, 20 January 2025, having spent seven years at Britvic plc, most recently as GB Commercial Director for Hospitality. With previous experience at Kraft Heinz, Burton’s Biscuits and Northern Foods, Dino brings a wealth of FMCG insight and experience across all channels of the food and drink industry.

Keep ReadingShow less
Surge recorded in whole food sales

iStock image

Surge recorded in whole food sales

Brits are increasingly leaning towards cooking from scratch and are ditching ultra processed food, thus embracing a much simpler approach to their diet, a recent report has stated.
According to a recent report from John Lewis Partnership released on Friday (17), supermarket Waitrose has reported that it’s back to basics for many in 2025 due to a growing awareness around ultra processed foods, with many turning away from low-fat, highly processed products in favour of less-processed, whole food ingredients.
Whole milk and full-fat Greek yogurt sales are up 11 per cent and 21 per cent compared to skimmed milk and Greek style yoghurt a year ago.
Block butter sales are up by +20 per cent as compared to dairy spreads while brown rice is seeing +7 per cent more sales as compared to white rice.
The report adds that sourdough bread sales are up by +20 per cent as compared to white bread while full fat Greek yoghurt recorded +21 per cent more sales than Greek style yoghurt.
Over the past 30 days, searches on Waitrose website whole food searches soared with ‘full fat milk’ and ‘full fat yoghurt’ skyrocketing 417 per cent and 233 per cent.
The shfit reflects the wider growing awareness of effects of ultra-processed foods, thanks in no small part to Dr Chris van Tulleken’s bestselling book Ultra-Processed People and its continued momentum in 2024 and into 2025.
His eye-opening, rigorously researched account of ultra-processed foods and their effect on our health turned many people towards cooking from scratch, with unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients.

Maddy Wilson, Director of Waitrose Own Brand comments, “There’s been a lot of bad press around so-called ‘healthy’ products which aren’t nutritious and don’t taste great, however the growing awareness of ultra processed food in our diets has seen many customers seeking the basics and embracing a much simpler approach to their diet.”

Waitrose Food & Drink report released last year highlighted that 54 per cent of those surveyed proactively avoid processed foods.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hinckley c-store ordered to close down

Image from Leicestershire County Council

Hinckley c-store ordered to close down

A convenience store in Hinckley, which sold illegal cigarettes to undercover Trading Standards officers on eight occasions and had more than 1,800 packets of illegal tobacco seized during four enforcement visits, has been closed down for three months.

As informed by Leicestershire County Council, Easy Shop in Regent Street has been ordered to remain closed until April 15 by Leicester Magistrates Court, following a joint operation by Leicestershire County Council’s Trading Standards service and Leicestershire Police. The orders were issues last week.

Keep ReadingShow less
Peterborough shop “closed” to tackle organised crime

Image from Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Peterborough shop “closed” to tackle organised crime

A city centre convenience store in Cambridgeshire has been closed down after police found "illicit" items including Viagra tablets, illegal tobacco and more than £14,000 in cash from the premises.

About 683,400 cigarettes, 37.45kg of hand rolling tobacco, and 35 cigars were seized by the police from International Food Centre in Lincoln Road in Peterborough late last year. The closure order was served on the shop and flat above on Dec 31following an application to Huntingdon Magistrates' Court.

Keep ReadingShow less
Champagne being poured into champagne glasses
Photo: iStock

Champagne shipments hit by gloomy consumer mood in 2024, producers say

French champagne shipments fell by nearly 10 per cent last year as economic and political uncertainties hit consumers' appetite for the sparkling wine in key markets such as France and the US, the producers association said.

Producers had called in July for a cut in the number of grapes harvested this year after sales fell more than 15 per cent in the first half of 2024. Full year shipments were down 9.2 per cent from 2023 at 271.4 million bottles, the Comite Champagne (Champagne Committee) said.

Keep ReadingShow less