Hemp foods, produced from the seeds of the hemp plant, are illegal to be sold for human consumption in Australia, even though products are available in most other countries in the world. The seeds are nutritious, tasty and can be used in muesli, health bars, as a sprinkle for salads and vegetables, as milk substitute and food oil.
An application has been made to Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) to have hemp legalised as a food in Australia. Public comment was sought by FSANZ.
Having food legalised is particularly important in that it provides a viable market for farmers. Infrastructure for processing hemp for textiles and building materials requires significant capital investment but cold pressing seed for oil gives another market for farmers without the need for expensive infrastructure costs. The oil contains an ideal balance of omegas for human assimilation - better than flax seed oil - and it also contains essential fatty acids not found in any other plant based oil. It is a viable and sustainable dietary alternative to fish oil. Being plant based, it doesn't have the potential to contain mercury and other heavy metals that deep sea fish does.
FSANZ will be reviewing all submissions and submitting recommendations to their Board in August. It is not envisaged that their Board submission will differ greatly from the one they made early last decade when they recommended that hemp seed foods be legalised for human consumption. It is hoped that the Council of Health Ministers will review the recommendation and approve it. Unfortunately, last time they reviewed it, they rejected it for two reasons, neither of which were substantiated with any kind of research or scientific studies. Those reasons were:
1. Public perception is that hemp is associated with marijuana.
2. Policing of the food and crops would be too difficult.
It's hard to believe that our politicians think their constituents are unable to make the distinction in a similar way that they do with poppyseeds and opium. And as for policing, there is already extensive and well-established infrastructure to police illicit crops and drugs. hemp is neither!
Let's hope that our politicians are now more educated than they were 10-12 years ago and will finally allow hemp as a food.
We will keep you all informed.
