From the Original HempNut Richard Rose, a mentor to us since the late 1990's when he introduced us to shelled hemp hearts, HempNut as he would refer to it.
In the early days of hemp foods we had unique issues, from calming consumer fears about THC and drug tests to the social and political legitimization of the emerging segment. Hempsters back then were into fiber, long before CBD, and skeptical that hemp could ever be a commercial food ingredient. So I started the HFA to help other food companies improve quality.
Hemp Association Guides Budding Industry. Natural Foods Merchandiser, October 1998, by KZ.
“The drug-testing industry thinks hemp seed foods should be banned because they will make people test positive [for drug use],” says Richard Rose, founder and president of Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Rella Good Cheese Co. and chair of the food committee for the Hemp Industries Association (HIA). “What they neglect to mention is that Advil, poppy seeds, and some cold medicines will do the same. There are alternatives to banning foods. They could find a better test or raise the threshold for detecting THC. And, there’s things the industry can do.
Rose is not all talk. This year he founded the Hemp Foods Association (HFA) because of the “serious need for quality control and good information” within the foods sector specifically. Rose says that HFA encourages higher standards for production, and distributes information. Membership is by invitation only, but manufacturers can request membership through the association’s email address.
With the passage of Canada’s Industrial Hemp Act earlier this year, a standard was set for industrial hemp THC levels to below 10 parts per million (ppm). “The Canadian standards,” says Don Wirtshafter, founder of the Athens, Ohio based Ohio Hempery, “are well below the level that could affect testing.” Many American hemp foods and cosmetic manufacturers are following this standard, but they would like to see similar standards and regulations set in the United States.
“We encourage our members to follow Canada’s standard of 10 ppm,” says Rose. “We also want manufacturers to label the percentage of hemp in their products, but I don’t think manufacturers will want to reveal that.
