Cannabis Food Products

Ayelet Ofarim, Arad-Ophir Ltd., Ramat Hasharon, Israel (ayelet@arad-ophir.co.il)

In the last decade, Cannabis has moved to the mainstream and is now taking part in many applications. The recent legalization of edible cannabis further extends its application into the food industry.

One can now find hemp (or cannabis) food products in many stores from many producers, such as hemp seeds, hemp seed oil, hemp milk, hemp tea, and even hemp infusion drinks. These hemp food producers rely on the nutritional and medical benefits scientists claim they have, together with a unique nutty taste.

One of the main regulations for hemp-based food and drink products, is that the edibles must contain less than 0.2% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) by weight. A higher percentage in hemp extracts remain illegal. Hence, it is highly important to have analytical methods for the determination of cannabinoids amounts in these products.

Looking at the literature published in the field, the majority of the publications are discussing its health benefits, where publications relate to the quality assurance systems of cannabis edibles are still rare and need to be developed.

The story of cannabis edibles will be presented and sources of scientific information (materials, technologies, formulations and analytical methods) will be described. In particular, this presentation will reveal how one can fast and easily find food analysis methods and related food formulations.