By Angela Brown, Portage la Prairie News
Hemp Oil Canada Inc., which is based in Manitoba, announced this week that it is the first in the world to gain international food safety accreditation for hemp food.
"This is good news for Hemp Oil Canada and the hemp industry as a whole," said Alphonsus Utioh, product development manager with Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, "because it would allow this company to be able to access more markets for companies that require hemp suppliers with this accreditation."
The FDC makes a number of hemp products itself and encourages the promotion for the hemp industry.
"The Food Development Centre has worked with the hemp industry for quite some time now," said Utioh. "We have worked with the industry to produce the various products."
The Food Development Centre is currently using hemp product in the development of muesli cereal mix, which will be coming out into the market sometime in the future.
As well, the FDC has been using hemp for the development of its nutrition bars.
"Hemp is known for its Omega-3 and Omega-6 — for the Essential Fatty Acids," said Utioh. "The hemp protein also has high digestibility value."
Utioh explained with Hemp Oil Canada receiving International food safety accreditation it will encourage more companies to develop product with hemp.
Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world. The species was banned in North America in late 1930s because its leaves and flowers contained a hallucinogenic drug known as delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It was banned internationally in 1961 under the United Nations’ Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Hemp does suffer from the “snicker factor”, largely because of its hippy-dippy image and close association with marijuana, its conscious-altering cousin.
