A GOOD NEWS STORY FOR NEW ZEALAND FOOD INDUSTRY MY SAY It’s fantastic news for the New Zealand and Australian food market in 2018 when healthy and nutritious hemp seed foods will be available for human consumption, New Zealand Hemp Industries Association treasurer Richard Barge says, enabling us to finally catch up with the rest of the world which has enjoyed hemp seeds for centuries. The industrial hemp (iHemp) industry is truly a good news story, producing an awesome food for human consumption which will add immense value to the agriculture and food sectors in New Zealand. However, the challenge for the food industry is to get involved and focus some of our world-famous Kiwi ingenuity on making innovative and high value products. Eighty years of prohibition means that not a lot of work has been done in the growing, harvesting and processing of hemp, and all this technology and products have export potential. As an ingredient, the hemp seed is very versatile and has uses in plant-based milk and ice-cream, tofu, baking, bread, brownies, cookies, pancakes, porridge, pasta, burgers, salad dressing, mayonnaise, cheese, yogurt and butter…to name a few. From next year, whole and hulled seed, cold pressed oil, protein and flour ingredients will be available for human consumption. Historically we have always had access to hemp foods, but this stopped in 2000 when we joined ANZFSA (the Australia New Zealand Food Safety Authority). Since then, the iHemp industry has been limited to only the animal food market and hemp seed oil, which is available here for human consumption but remains banned in Australia. Our access to oil was granted under a customary use exemption, as hemp foods were already available in New Zealand prior to 2000. Continued access to this oil market has been an opportunity for a small number of commercial growers to prove iHemp is an economic crop to grow. More growers are becoming licenced and the iHemp grain industry is set to scale in the 2018/19 season. Almost 18 years since the Australian industry put forward their first application, the food ministers finally voted ‘yes’, and a variation to the food code was accepted in April. Before hemp seed for human consumption is allowed, Cabinet needs to approve any changes required to the Medicine, Food and Misuse of Drugs Legislation. These changes won’t be considered until after the election, but a consultation paper will be made available by MPI, with officials already talking to the Industry and government ministries to ensure hemp seed foods are publicly available sometime between May and November 2018. The industry is hopeful the political risk will be removed in time to get a licence and plant next year. And as the Minister considers it a priority, there is a lot of positive momentum being generated within MPI around what the hemp industry can do…economically, environmentally and for the people in the regions. Hemp seed comes from low THC industrial hemp grown under a licence issued by the Ministry of Health. Industrial hemp is cannabis, which is why it must be controlled by the 1975 Misuse of Drugs Act. Licences to grow are issued under the Industrial Hemp Regulations created in 2006, following the iHemp trials held between 2000-2005. Industrial hemp has less than 0.35% THC (THC Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol is the psychoactive substance found in recreational and some medical cannabis). As cannabis seed is a Class C Drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the location of any whole seed processing will need to be licenced. HEMP 58 JULY 2017
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