Hemp Oil vs CBD Oil (Cannabidiol): What Is the Difference?

“Hemp oil” is used for two different products. One is a cooking oil made from seeds. The other is a cannabinoid extract. This page covers what each one is, how it is made, how US law treats it as of October 2026, and how to read the label. It gives no advice on using CBD. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Hemp oil vs CBD oil at a glance

Hemp seed oil is a food oil from the seed, and CBD oil is an extract of one compound, cannabidiol, from the flower and leaf.

What hemp seed oil is

Hemp seed oil is the oil obtained from the seeds of the hemp plant. The ingredient database COSMILE Europe describes it as “obtained from the seeds of the hemp plant”, with the seeds yielding oil by pressing.

It is a food ingredient in the United States. On December 20, 2018, FDA announced that it had “no questions” about a company’s conclusion that three hemp seed ingredients are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) under their intended conditions of use:

The notices came from Fresh Hemp Foods, Ltd. FDA lists the covered uses as adding the ingredients to foods such as beverages, soups, dips, sauces, baked goods, cereals, snacks and nutrition bars.

On cannabinoids, FDA is direct. Hemp seeds “do not naturally contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)”. The seed ingredients “contain only trace amounts of THC and CBD, which the seeds may pick up during harvesting and processing”.

Seed oil also sat outside the drug statute before hemp was legalized. The Controlled Substances Act definition of marijuana at 21 U.S.C. 802(16) excludes “oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant”.

For the oil’s fatty acids and kitchen use, see hemp seed oil benefits.

What CBD oil is

CBD oil is a product built around cannabidiol, a cannabinoid taken from the flowering parts of the plant. A 2023 review in the journal Molecules explains that cannabinoids are made “within the glandular trichomes present mainly in flowers of female plants”.

The same review describes how they are recovered. Producers extract the aerial parts of the plant (inflorescences, stems and leaves), for example with supercritical carbon dioxide, sometimes with ethanol as a co-solvent. In the plant, the compound exists as an acid, CBDA. A heating step called decarboxylation converts CBDA to CBD.

So the two oils differ in source, process and content. One is a pressed seed fat. The other is a concentrated plant compound.

How FDA regulates each one

FDA accepts hemp seed oil as a food ingredient and does not accept CBD in food or dietary supplements. Its position on each product type is below.

Dietary supplements. FDA’s cannabis regulation page states: “FDA has concluded that THC and CBD products are excluded from the dietary supplement definition.”

Food. The same page says it is prohibited to introduce into interstate commerce any food to which THC or CBD has been added. The three GRAS hemp seed ingredients are treated separately: FDA says they can be marketed in human foods for the uses described in the notices.

Drugs. FDA has approved one CBD drug, Epidiolex, a prescription product containing purified CBD for seizures associated with three named conditions. The agency states: “There are no other FDA-approved drug products that contain CBD.”

Cosmetics. FDA says cosmetic products and ingredients are “not subject to premarket approval by FDA”, apart from most color additives. No rule specifically addresses cannabis-derived cosmetic ingredients. An ingredient still cannot make a product adulterated or misbranded.

The January 2023 statement

On January 26, 2023, FDA said that its existing food and supplement frameworks do not fit CBD. In the statement, Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock wrote that “a new regulatory pathway for CBD is needed”.

FDA denied three citizen petitions that had asked it to write rules allowing CBD in dietary supplements. It said it would work with Congress on a new approach. As of FDA’s pages opened on October 9, 2026, its stated position on supplements and food was unchanged.

How the November 2025 hemp law affects CBD products

The new federal hemp definition does not name CBD, but its THC limit reaches some CBD products. Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 excludes from hemp any final hemp-derived cannabinoid product containing “greater than 0.4 milligrams combined total per container” of total THC and cannabinoids with similar effects.

The White House has said what that means. Executive Order 14370, signed December 18, 2025, states that “some full-spectrum CBD products will once again be controlled as marijuana under the CSA when section 781 of Public Law 119-37 goes into effect because they contain THC levels above the per-container threshold set by that law”. The order directs White House staff to work with Congress on that definition.

Three more points from the statute:

• Synthesized cannabinoids are excluded. Products with cannabinoids that “were synthesized or manufactured outside the plant” are not hemp, whatever their THC level.
• Approved drugs are carved out. The term “hemp-derived cannabinoid product” does not include a drug approved under section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
• Seed oil stays hemp. “Industrial hemp” covers hemp grown for the “whole grain, oil, cake, nut, hull” or other non-cannabinoid products of the seeds.

The dates are split. Public Law 119-103 delays the per-container limit until December 11, 2026. Dates and the full text are on the hemp ban explained.

How many CBD products are affected is disputed and not officially counted. The Associated Press reported on October 3, 2026 that the general counsel of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, an industry group, said the cap would ban even some non-impairing CBD products. That is an industry statement, not an agency finding.

How to tell them apart on a label

Read the ingredient list, not the product name. “Hemp oil” on the front of a bottle can mean either product.

Two cautions apply. First, the terms on CBD labels are not always accurate. Executive Order 14370 cites a study that found some commercial CBD products “inaccurately labeled regarding CBD isolate, broad-spectrum, or full-spectrum composition”.

Second, FDA noted in a consumer update that CBD is marketed in many forms, including food, supplements, cosmetics and animal products. The category a product is sold in does not tell you which oil is inside. The ingredient name does.

For how the law separates the plants themselves, see hemp vs marijuana.