How much cannabis can you put in a drink or food in Europe?
The European Commission (EC), which is the regional unit charged with creating cannabis laws for all members of the EU, has finally released guidelines for the highest acceptable level of THC that can be allowed in hemp seed food products available for human consumption.
The Two-Part Regulation
The EC issued a two-tiered regulation. The first of them, which was authorized by the European Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food, and Feed, says that oil obtained from hemp seed should not contain THC levels greater than 7.5mg/kg.
The second regulation is that for dry foods that contain hemp, such as flour and protein powder that contain hemp seed, as well as hemp seed itself, the level of THC that can be found in them must not be greater than 3mg/kg.
To put this into an international point of view, a 10mg/kg limit has been placed on both dry foods and oils containing hemp seed in Canada. And in Switzerland, a limit doubles that of Canada’s has been established for oil products at 20mg/kg while the limit for dry products remains the same at 10mg/kg.
Effects of Setting Limits in the World of International Hemp regulations
German cannabis lawyer Kai-Friedrich Niermann, who is presently suing the government over laws as regards the importation of hemp, was glad about this development. In his opinion, the ruling of the European Commission was crucial and way-paving for the European hemp sector. Currently, it will be the first time organized guideline values apply across the European Union.
Therefore, such cases as when there was a comprehensive recall of totally safe hemp products that occurred last August in Germany should be a thing of the past.
In agreement was Lorenza Romanese, who is the Managing Director of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), the sole EU-wide lobbying body with any genuine lobbying strength at the moment. She announced that the EIHA accepted the recently agreed limits. For the market to thrive, it has to be a market grounded on standard rules and not an attachment of 27 national laws.
Uncertainty of restrictions
Still, everything is not entirely satisfactory. The European Industrial Hemp Association is still unhappy. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is the persistent uncertainty that exists despite the proclamation. This is why. Labs that carry out analysis for official controls and checks must be compliant with regulations on how to deduce what is referred to as “measurement uncertainty.” The European Commission has yet to express what those uncertainty values are.
This creates a continuous ambiguity, which the new regulations have yet to resolve. Namely, a commodity is said to be not compliant under the new regulation if it extends above the maximum level permitted and the complementary margin of freedom. Absent a clear definition of what that delta is, and producers will have to defend any measurements that exceed the limit, even just slight ones, to the authorities. According to the European Industrial Hemp Association, the development finally puts an end to internal market fragmentation and will most likely boost investment in the sector.
There will be extra time given to stakeholders to adapt to the new rules by trading their current stock during a growth period. The rules will…
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