City eateries are defying ban on CBD

Food and drink are still being sold with CBD in the city, months after health officials banned restaurants and cafes from selling edibles spiked with or accompanied by the trendy cannabis derivative because of safety concerns.

The city Health Department surprised bakeries, restaurants, coffee shops and other food sellers in February by telling them they were not permitted to put cannabidiol, or CBD, in prepared foods because it hadn’t been approved as a food additive by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They also can’t provide CBD to customers to add it themselves.

City health inspectors started seizing CBD-laced products, then backed off and gave food establishments until Oct. 1 to comply with the rules or face a fine of up to $650.

Yet on a recent spin around Manhattan in the days after that deadline passed, an Associated Press reporter was able to find CBD-infused coffee, cookies and other food items for sale.

In the coffee bar at Le District, a fancy grocery near the World Trade Center, a sign read: “Add an extra dose of CBD oil to any drink for $5.”

At the Fat Cat Kitchen cafe in the East Village, freshly baked CBD cookies and brownies sat on display in a glass case.

CBD-infused drinks — including lavender matcha latte and white peach ice tea — were also on sale at the Forever Coffee Bar near Columbia University’s new satellite campus in upper Manhattan. Customers could get 10 milligrams added to their beverage for $2.50.

Owner Artem Arnopulo said he was aware the ban was in place. Health inspectors, in fact, had already visited another one of his Manhattan cafes in September and asked it to stop serving CBD-laced items.

”That was before the Oct. 1 deadline, and they said, no violation, no tickets. But it was a warning,” Arnopulo said.

Still, he said, he plans to keep serving CBD drinks until the inspectors show up at his other locations and tell them to stop, too. “We’re waiting for them,” he says with a grin. ”I’m really a bit upset about it, if we cannot sell this anymore because CBD is kind of special and people are so excited about it.”