Ben & Jerry's Vows to Win the Race to Market the First Cannabis Infused Ice Cream

Washington (dpa) - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on Friday holding its first public hearing on cannabidiol, better known as CBD, which has flooded US markets - despite an opaque legal status - as a way to alleviate anxiety and inflammation

The compound, which comes from hemp or marijuana plants, has exploded in popularity in recent years, with CBD already available in sweets, oils and cosmetics

The FDA has said some companies are marketing CBD with dangerously exaggerated health benefits.

"While the use of cannabis and cannabis-derived products, including hemp and hemp-derived products, has increased dramatically in recent years, questions remain regarding the safety considerations raised by the widespread use of these products," the FDA said in a statement

"These questions could impact the approaches we consider taking in regulating the development and marketing of products," the regulator added.

No decisions on regulating CBD will come from the public hearing, the FDA said, adding that the hearing is an "important step" to evaluating cannabis-derived compounds.

While the FDA has banned CBD from food products, the regulation has been largely ignored and some states permit CBD in food.

The FDA has approved a drug containing a purified form of CBD for treating seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Meanwhile, the iconic US ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's vowed on Thursday to produce a CBD-infused ice cream once the compound is legalized.

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc, trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. It was founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, and sold in 2000 to British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever. Today it operates globally as a fully owned subsidiary of Unilever. Its present-day headquarters is in South Burlington, Vermont, with its main factory in Waterbury, Vermont.