Hemp cookies to hit market as sale of seeds as food legalised
Hemp growers and food producers are celebrating news hemp seed can be sold for food. The Government announced yesterday that hemp seed would be treated as just another edible seed.
Hemp is currently grown under permit and is used for fibre and hemp seed oil.
From Monday, the Misuse of Drugs (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2006 and the Food Regulations 2015 will be amended to allow the sale of hemp seed as food. Hemp flowers and leaves will not be permitted.
West Coast farmers Sarah Gibson and Aaron Silcock grow hemp on their Reefton dairy farm.
This year will be the couple’s second season growing hemp to sell for animal food.
After November 12, they can begin selling the hulled seeds for human consumption.
Gibson said she was pleased with the announcement, but said the changes did not go far enough.
‘‘The leaves and flowers are just as nutritious as the seeds, but we are one step in the right direction,’’ she said.
She was disappointed about the advertising restrictions, which included not having a leaf on packaging.
Gibson said she and Silcock, who eat a plant-based diet, had been eating hemp hearts for two years and seen health benefits.
‘‘It is one of the very few plant proteins that is complete, meaning they contain all of the amino acids, including the nine essential ones our bodies cannot produce,’’ she said.
They grew hemp on two hectares of their farm last year, increasing it to 3.6ha this year.
She hoped they could convert the farm to producing only hemp longterm.
‘‘It’s basically like a weed. It’s really easy to grow. We went through a drought last year and the rest of our paddocks were brown and our hemp plots were beautiful and green. When it did rain within nine days the hemp had grown a metre,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s not just a great food. Hemp can remediate soils, it pulls methane from the air and cleans waterways.’’ Westport’s Emily Miazga, of Em’s Power Cookies, was delighted by the announcement.
An athlete and former nutritionist, she had been developing two protein cookies containing hemp seeds for the past two years. They could now be sent to market as she had already secured a hemp supplier and a distributor. She said hemp had iron, zinc, magnesium, B vitamins, omega 3 and 6, was high in fibre and protein, low in sugar and gluten free.
‘‘Not only is it a super food, it is a hugely environmentally sustainable plant. It is drought and weed resistant which means you can grow it with minimal water and chemicals and it pulls toxins out of the soil. To make a vegan, delicious protein cookie out of hemp is a dream come true for me,’’ she said.
‘‘New Zealand is one of the last countries in the world to legalise hemp seeds as food. I’m so happy we have finally caught up.’’
She said it would be great for the West Coast economy.
Food Safety Minister and West Coast MP Damien O’Connor said regional economies were the biggest winners of the rule changes.
‘‘This is great news for the local hemp industry, which has argued for decades that the production of hemp seed foods will stimulate regional economies, create jobs and generate $10-20 million of export revenue within three to five years,’’ he said.
‘‘Hemp seeds are safe to eat, nutritious and do not have a psychoactive effect.’’
Hulled, non-viable seeds and their products will be now be viewed as just another edible seed but growing, possession and trade of whole seeds will still require a licence from the Ministry of Health.