When a fixed regulatory deadline meets withheld evidence and shifting interpretations, questions follow. This open letter examines how the UK Food Standards Agency has applied its CBD novel foods rules—and whether those decisions can be properly scrutinised.

The original use of “Business As Usual” was during wartime, a deliberate attempt to maintain public calm while the world collapsed around them. So the question is this: What war, exactly, is the FSA trying to normalise? Against transparency, perhaps? If that is the case, it's interesting that it started at a time that is significant for CBD Novel Foods. That is provable through the 2021 FSA FOI report, which, other than a modified response on 17/06/21, shows an abrupt stop