The European Union (EU) has adopted maximum THC limits in hempseed food following a positive opinion of the Standing Committee for Foodstuffs.
The EU has set maximum THC levels of 3.0 mg/kg for dry products such as flour, proteins, seeds, snacks and 7.5 mg/kg for hemp seed oil. The move has been welcomed by the industry, which will benefit from having certainly around limit allowances.
Mandatory for all Member States, the levels were set under amendments to Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006. Until now, Member States have been implementing their own maximum levels or following the reference dose of 1mg/kg.
EIHA President, Daniel Kruse, commented: “This long-awaited piece of legislation is a significant win for our industry and the EIHA has been a strong advocate for this change for almost ten years.
“EIHA also contributed with sound scientific facts to the stakeholder consultation of the European Commission in 2020. These EU-wide maximum levels will greatly help our members and all food business operators wishing to work with hemp seed derived products, such as hemp seed oil.”
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The EIHA has stated that the initiative will finally put an end to the internal market fragmentation and will most likely give a further boost to the investment in the sector.
The committee did not fix in writing a measurement uncertainty, and labs are obliged to report their results with the measurement uncertainty, which can range from 40 to 50 per cent. The EIHA has stated that it is disappointed the official measurement uncertainty for THC has not been fixed – continuing to lead to ambiguity and uncertainty in the market – and noting that food business operator’s must constantly explain and defend the measurement uncertainty to the authorities.
Members of the Cannabis Industry Council, Charles Clowes, director at Bud and Tender, Mark Turner, founder of Bud and Tender and Kyle Esplin of the Scottish Hemp Association and director of Holistic Highland Hemp, stated: “Have consumers called for this change and will EU hemp seed oil farmers and food manufacturers be able to adapt?
“Depending on the source country, it is widely understood that the amount of THC contained in European produced hemp seed oil ranges between 20 and 80 milligram (mg) per kilogram (kg). A study in 2013, for perspective, this sample of 11 hemp seed oils on the European market, eight of them would fail the new 7.5mg/kg limit.
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“Time will tell how EU hemp seed oil farmers and producers respond, adapt and reduce their existing hemp seed oil products and how consumers react to a change in formulation and potentially, quality.
“This is more about that a product limit has been set that is broadly inline with EU consumer guidance of THC consumption of 1 microgram/kg/body weight. Consuming a 10ml spoon of hemp seed oil at 7mg/kg (ppm in oil) equals a dosage consumption of 1 microgram per kg of body weight for a 70kg adult.
“With post-Brexit freedoms, the UK is able to do things differently and the Cannabis Industry Council is fully supporting UK hemp farmers to accelerate the growth of growing hemp in the UK for both food production and industrial purposes creating new revenue streams for UK famers, jobs, high quality products for consumers nationally and internationally and overall, economic growth.”
The EIHA highlights that inconsistencies among the 27 Member states have put operators in a very difficult situation and often impeded a smooth trade or blocked it altogether.
Lorenza Romanese, EIHA Managing Director, stated: “Piece by piece, we are achieving a true single hemp market for Europe. We will continue in this direction and do our best to make life easier for hemp farmers and processors”.
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