- Print Friendly - Help

Sale of hemp seed oil as food

The sale of hemp seed oil as food is legal in New Zealand. Hemp seed oil is the only hemp-derived product legally sold as a food or added to a food in New Zealand. Read about the regulations that apply including the dietary supplement regulations.

Food (Safety) Regulations 2002

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is responsible for the administration of the Food (Safety) Regulations 2002, which came into effect on 20th December 2002. These regulations incorporate a specific permission for the legal sale of hemp seed oil as food in New Zealand.

Changing regulations and the implications for hemp seed oil

Prior to the Food (Safety) Regulations 2002, hemp seed oil could be legally sold in New Zealand under the general provisions in the New Zealand Food Regulations 1984.

In 1995 the New Zealand Government entered into a treaty agreement with the Government of Australia to establish a system for developing a joint food standards code. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) developed the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Food Standards Code) over several years. After a two-year transition period, the Food Standards Code came into full effect on 20 December 2002, with a further transitional period of 2 years to sell food produced and packaged prior to this date.

Unlike the Food Regulations, the Food Standards Code includes a prohibition on the sale of parts of the cannabis plant under Standard 1.4.4 – Prohibited Botanicals. As a result, New Zealand would have had no legislation enabling the continuation of the sale of hemp seed oil after December 2002 if no other action was taken.

In response to this situation, we developed provisions in the Food (Safety) Regulations 2002 as a transitional arrangement until such time as either a New Zealand or a joint standard might be incorporated into the Food Standards Code.

The scope of the transitional provision relating to hemp is limited to hemp seed oil and it maintains the general provisions for hemp seed oil that existed under the New Zealand Food Regulations 1984.

Conditions for the production and sale of hemp seed oil

The Food (Safety) Regulations 2002 sets-out the conditions for the production and sale of hemp seed oil for human consumption in New Zealand. Hemp seed oil produced or imported under the following conditions can be legally sold in New Zealand as a food or added to food products sold within New Zealand. These conditions are:

“26 (2) (a) in the case of hemp seed oil that is produced in New Zealand,

• the hemp seed oil is derived from cannabis seed from plants that are grown in New Zealand under and in accordance with any conditions attached to a licence to cultivate industrial hemp issued by the Director General of the Ministry of Health; and

• 26 (3) (b) in the case of hemp seed oil that is imported into New Zealand, the hemp seed oil must be tested by an analyst working in a laboratory approved under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 and has been authorised for sale and use.”

There are no current plans to review the scope of these Regulations to permit a wider range of hemp products. The matter would need to be considered within the joint Food Standards Setting process.

Attitudes about hemp food products in the food supply

There are differing attitudes about the distinction made between hemp and the Cannabis Sativa plant. Hemp may contain no THC or THC below a level of 0.35% (as set out under the Ministry of Health’s Licence conditions and analysed by Environmental Science and Research).

For sections of the community that support the differentiation between hemp and the Cannabis Sativa plant, there appear to be changing attitudes towards hemp in the food supply. Social attitudes are slow to change however and there appears to be many other sections of the community that do not support this position, and who continue to associate hemp with the illegal drug, Cannabis Sativa.

Current food opportunities for hemp

There are a range of opportunities for the sale of hemp seed oil and other hemp products in New Zealand. These include:

1. domestic sale of New Zealand produced hemp seed oil based products;

2. export sale of hemp seed oil (to countries where hemp seed oil is permitted to be sold);

3. domestic sale of hemp in animal fodder. Schedule 4 of the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act does not prohibit the use of hemp in animal feed (for standing crops opened to animal grazing and oral nutritional compounds such as traded feed). We consider hemp grown in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s hemp trial licenses THC is unlikely to breach Schedule 4.

For further information on hemp in animal fodder, please contact our Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines group.

Contact the New Zealand Food Safety Authority

Hemp seed oil is the only legal hemp product in New Zealand

Under the Food (Safety) Regulations, it is not legal to sell any hemp-derived product other than hemp seed oil as a food or added to a food. Hemp related products that cannot be sold for food or added to food products in New Zealand include:

• whole hemp seed

• hemp seed nut

• hemp seed protein.

Review of the regulatory framework for hemp licensing trials

Medsafe, the Ministry of Health’s medicine regulatory agency, reviewed the regulatory framework for hemp licensing trials. On the 1^st of August 2006, a new regulatory regime for the cultivation, processing and distribution of industrial hemp as an agricultural crop was put in place. People who wish to grow, trade in, or process hemp need to be licensed.

Learn more about the licensing rules for industrial hemp [Medsafe]

Dietary Supplement Regulations 1985

Along with a wide range of edible substances, hemp seed oil products can be sold as a dietary supplement under the Dietary Supplement Regulations 1985 (the Regulations). The Regulations were intended to cover a range of vitamins and mineral products and other nutrients usually contained in tablet, capsule or powder form. However since the regulations were put in place, dietary supplements have evolved to include a wide range of products that are food like. These food type dietary supplements go beyond the original intention of the Regulations. As a result there are examples of products sold as dietary supplements under the Regulations but marketed to the consumer as food. We are currently preparing amendments to the Regulations to address this unclear distinction between foods sold under the Regulations and foods sold under the Food Standards Code.

Food labelling requirements under the food standards code

Food sold in New Zealand must be labelled in accordance with the general food labelling requirements under the Food Standards Code.

New Zealand's food labelling requirements

Health and therapeutic claims

Health claims and therapeutic claims are not permitted on foods except for the folate health claim. The permitted folate health claim is that maternal consumption of folate helps prevent neural tube defects in foetuses.

Health claims for food is under review.

The Therapeutic Advertising Pre-vetting Service can provide advice on claims which would be compliant with the Regulations, the Medicines Act and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) Code for Therapeutic Advertising.

Therapeutic Advertising Pre-vetting system (TAPS) [Association of NZ Advertisers] Click on TAPS in the left hand menu.

Other food regulatory requirements that apply in New Zealand

There are a range of food regulatory requirements that apply in New Zealand. These include:

• the Food Act 1981 – all food for sale in New Zealand must comply with the Act

• various New Zealand food safety regulations and food standards

• the Fair Trading Act 1986.