A Call to Action for the Hemp Grain Industry

On this special edition of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we talk to Ben Raymond, head of research and development at Victory Hemp Hoods in Kentucky.

He wants to let the grain side of the hemp industry know that the comment period for The Food Chemicals Codex monographs for hemp as a food ingredient is closing at the end of this month and it’s important that these monographs accurately reflect hemp as a food ingredient.

The better the information contained in these ingredient monographs the more legitimate hemp becomes as a food ingredient, so it behooves the hemp industry to make sure these monographs are on point.

View the proposed monograph along with Ben’s proposed changes

https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/industrial_hemp/fcc-hemp-monograph-suggestions/pdf_776d2128-1bd7-11ec-8cb3-3bc5caaa1f4c.html

Go to the FCC’s website and publish your comments. The deadline is September 30, 2021

https://www.foodchemicalscodex.org/fcc-forum

Here is some background information Ben provided to Lancaster Farming:

Who is the FCC?

The food chemicals codex (FCC) is a compendium of internationally recognized standards for the identity, purity, and quality of food ingredients. It features over 1,200 monographs, including food-grade chemicals, processing aids, food ingredients (such as vegetable oils, fructose, whey, and amino acids), flavoring agents, vitamins, and other functional food ingredients.

Why should your company care?

Food production, from farm to fork, is a long complicated and ever more globalized process. Potential vulnerabilities that may affect the integrity of food ingredients are increasingly scrutinized by regulators, retailers, and consumers.

The FCC serves two key roles in this area:

1. Helping to limit the introduction of potential problems at the ingredient level, and

2. Serving as a widely acknowledged quality benchmark in the global marketplace for food ingredients. FCC standards are recognized around the world by regulatory agencies, food processors, and ingredient suppliers as the basis for defining food-grade Ingredients.

FCC has promulgated draft monographs that encompass hemp seed protein and hemp seed oil. FCC monographs set standards for ingredient identification methods, limits on impurities, and product specific tests such as percent moisture, protein, or in the case of hemp ingredients, limits on CBD and THC content. FCC monographs are not state or federal regulations and compliance is entirely voluntary. However it is common that food and beverage ingredients and additives are sold as f c c grade and some manufacturers will set internal purchasing and QA standards based on FCC monographs.

It is in the hemp Industries best interest to guide FCC monograph creation to standards that are logical, don’t impose undo testing burdens, and do not limit innovation.