California AB 45: Industrial Hemp THC Limits, Testing, and Labeling

California AB 45, signed by Governor Newsom on October 6, 2021, legalized hemp-derived ingredients like CBD in food, beverages, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and pet products, and created the registration, testing, and labeling rules that manufacturers and retailers must follow to sell them. Four years later, Assembly Bill 8, signed on October 2, 2025, carved out everything intoxicating and pushed it into the licensed cannabis system. If you make, distribute, or sell hemp products in California today, you are working under both laws at once: AB 45 for non-intoxicating hemp goods, MAUCRSA for anything with a THC effect.

What AB 45 Covers

Health and Safety Code Section 111920(g)(1) defines an “industrial hemp product” as a finished product containing industrial hemp in one of these forms: food, food additive, dietary supplement, cosmetic, or herb, intended for human or animal consumption.¹ That covers CBD drinks, hemp extract capsules, topical lotions, and pet treats on retail shelves statewide.

By declaring these products “not adulterated by the inclusion of industrial hemp,” AB 45 stopped local health officials from pulling compliant goods off shelves just because they contain hemp-derived ingredients.²

Two things sit outside the law. “Animal” does not include livestock or food animals as defined in Business and Professions Code Section 4825.1, so hemp feed for cattle, poultry, or other food-producing animals is not authorized here.¹ No industrial hemp product may contain THC isolate as an ingredient. Products that already carry FDA approval or Generally Recognized As Safe status fall outside AB 45 entirely and are governed by federal rules.

What You Can and Can’t Sell

Traditional hemp goods remain legal in general retail. Pure CBD products, hemp fiber items, and hemp foods that meet AB 45’s labeling and testing rules can still be sold at grocery stores, health shops, and online without a cannabis license.

What changed in 2025 is the treatment of anything intoxicating. AB 8 requires that all products containing intoxicating cannabinoids, including THC, be sold exclusively through licensed cannabis dispensaries and taxed and regulated under MAUCRSA.³ Under the original AB 45 framework, inhalable hemp products such as pre-rolls, vape cartridges, and loose flower were already restricted to buyers 21 and older.⁴ AB 8 went further and barred the sale of inhalable hemp products containing THC outside the licensed cannabis system.

Synthetic cannabinoids are also off the table. Lab-created compounds like Delta-8 THC and Delta-10 THC that are chemically converted from CBD cannot be sold in hemp products. Any hemp product that exceeds the legal THC concentration, or that fails contaminant testing, is subject to seizure and destruction.

The practical line: if a product is designed to get someone high, it belongs in a dispensary. If it is a standard CBD supplement, topical, or food item with compliant THC levels, AB 45 still governs it.

THC Limits That Actually Apply to Your Product

The THC rules operate on two levels, and the stricter one catches manufacturers off guard.

At the raw-material stage, Health and Safety Code Section 111925 requires manufacturers to prove that their hemp extract in final form does not exceed 0.3 percent total THC concentration.⁵ That is the familiar federal threshold from the 2018 Farm Bill.

At the finished-product stage, the rules tighten considerably. The California Department of Public Health adopted emergency regulations requiring that industrial hemp food, beverages, and dietary supplements intended for human consumption contain no detectable THC per serving.⁶ In practice that means zero THC in the consumer’s portion, not the 0.3 percent many manufacturers assumed would apply to finished goods. Section 111922 gives CDPH authority to set maximum serving sizes, cannabinoid concentrations per serving, and servings per container.⁷

Registering as a Manufacturer With CDPH

Manufacturers who produce hemp food, beverages, dietary supplements, cosmetics, or raw hemp extract must register with CDPH.² The registration gives the state a record of every facility in the supply chain.

No hemp product can be distributed or sold in California without documentation showing two things: that the raw extract in its final form stays within the legal THC concentration, and that the hemp was grown in compliance with California’s Food and Agricultural Code if in-state, or under USDA requirements if sourced from out of state.⁸

The CDPH enrollment application asks for your facility address, all current and proposed hemp sources with business information for each extractor, and registration or license details for each supplier.⁹ If you source outside California, you must show that your supplier operates under an approved industrial hemp program with food-safety criteria equivalent to California’s, and that the grower is in good standing where it is located.²

Testing Every Batch

Every batch of industrial hemp must be tested in raw-extract final form before it goes into a consumer product, and the testing must be done by an independent laboratory.⁵

Contaminant screening for hemp uses the same thresholds that apply to cannabis. Section 111925.4 pulls hemp products into the standards established for cannabis in Business and Professions Code Section 26100, which covers pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents, microbial impurities, and other harmful substances.² A batch that fails cannot be sold or distributed in the state. CDPH can adjust specific contaminant levels by regulation.

For labs, California’s Department of Cannabis Control requires ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, an international standard for technical competency and reliable results.¹⁰ Labs must use standard operating procedures, maintain a quality assurance program, and participate in proficiency testing. Because the contaminant standards for hemp mirror cannabis, labs testing hemp should meet the same benchmarks.

Labeling and the Certificate of Analysis

Section 111926 requires manufacturers, distributors, and sellers to comply with all state and federal packaging, labeling, and advertising laws.¹¹ The specifics split by product category.

Food, Beverage, and Dietary Supplements

Under Section 111926.2, every dietary supplement, food, or beverage with industrial hemp must include a label, scannable barcode, website link, or QR code that connects to the certificate of analysis for the batch. The COA has to show the product name, the manufacturer’s name and contact information, the batch number (matching the one printed on the package), the concentration of cannabinoids including total THC, and the contaminant levels tested.¹²

Three warning statements have to appear on the package:

A statement that children, pregnant individuals, and those who are breastfeeding should consult a health care professional before using the product.
A statement that products containing cannabinoids should be kept out of reach of children.
The statement “THE FDA HAS NOT EVALUATED THIS PRODUCT FOR SAFETY OR EFFICACY.”

Cosmetics

Hemp cosmetics have a parallel requirement under Section 111926.3. The label or linked COA must carry the same core information: product name, manufacturer details, batch number, cannabinoid concentrations, and contaminant levels.¹³

Online Sales and Advertising

Alongside AB 8, California enacted SB 378 in 2025 to target the online platforms where unregulated hemp was reaching consumers without age checks or safety screening. The law bans direct-to-consumer advertising of intoxicating or unregistered hemp products online. Online marketplaces must include conspicuous disclaimers, build reporting mechanisms for consumers to flag illicit listings, and face monetary penalties for violations. Platforms that connect consumers with sellers of intoxicating hemp products are held strictly liable for damages the consumer suffers.

For businesses operating within AB 45’s non-intoxicating hemp framework, the general advertising rules in Section 111926 still apply: marketing has to comply with California’s Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law and the applicable federal advertising standards.¹¹ Making therapeutic or medical claims about a hemp product without FDA authorization is prohibited under both state and federal law.

Enforcement Risk

CDPH can regulate and restrict hemp products at the product level, including capping THC concentrations and setting serving-size limits.⁵ Products that fail testing or violate labeling rules can be seized. With AB 8, enforcement tools expanded: state and local health agencies can seize and destroy illegal products, and smoke shops selling illicit hemp or cannabis goods risk losing their tobacco retail licenses.³

For a business, compliance comes down to a short checklist. Register with CDPH. Source from licensed growers with documentation that follows the hemp. Test every batch at an accredited lab. Label everything to the statute’s specifications, with a working link to the COA. Keep finished products at no detectable THC per serving if they are ingestible. Treat it as a paperwork exercise and you end up with seized inventory and a revoked registration.

1
California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111920
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California Legislative Information. AB-45 Industrial Hemp Products
3
Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry. AB 8 Becomes Law to Protect Public Health and Regulate the Hemp Market
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111929
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111925
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California Department of Public Health. DPH-24-005 Emergency and Regular Rulemaking Regulation for Industrial Hemp
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111922
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111921
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 17 California Code of Regulations 23220 – Industrial Hemp Enrollment and Oversight Authorization Application
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Department of Cannabis Control. Testing Laboratories
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111926
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111926.2
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California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 111926.3