HAPPY PLANET NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

  Hempseed demand outstrips supply in australia

The demand for hempseed food has outstripped supply in Australia due to the increase in awareness of hemp food and thus increased orders in the past 12 months. Despite our best efforts to establish ample supply of raw product in Australia, there were hiccups.

Fortunately, we can source hempseed from New Zealand where it is grown and the seed cold-pressed for oil. We have imported the oil and meal several times now and we are impressed by the quality.

Here at Happy Planet we only on-sell quality nutritious raw foods. If we don’t eat it, we don’t sell it.

So when the last batch of oil arrived and the aroma was different, we didn’t want to drink it and didn’t want to sell it. But to our immense delight, after a week, the aroma mellowed and is the same as previous batches.

The difference was due to the oil indeed being very fresh, straight from the field to the cleaning facility and then to the cold-pressing facility.

Usually the supplier allows the oil to settle longer before shipping out but due to us demanding more oil, it was shipped out immediately.

We do everything we can to maintain a continuous supply to enable us to supply our customers whenever they order, and we appreciate our customers’ understanding of our difficulties and thank you for your ongoing support and patience.

Why can new Zealand sell hempseed oil for human consumption, when Australia can’t?

New Zealand Food Standards joined FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand) in 1999. Before this, New Zealand followed the FSNZ and in 1996, FSNZ gave the ok to allow hempseed oil for human consumption to be sold in stores but not  the meal, powder or flour.

This has given the New Zealand hemp industry a kick start ahead of Australia, still the last western country in the world to allow hemp food for human consumption.

Due to the increased demand for hemp oil and food, the NZ hemp industry increased their hemp crops and processing facility.

They could also market the hempseed oil for human consumption, whereas we cannot.

We are only being allowed to sell hempseed oil and food because we state on labels “for pet food only in Australia, safe and suitable for human consumption where legal”.

Of course, this causes confusion and consternation, especially for those people who are just finding out about the benefits of hemp foods and are not aware of the Australian legislation. (A lot of our customers have pets.)

All the more confusing when people know or find out that overseas, hemp comes in all forms of food—burgers, milk, butter, pasta, bread, cakes, bags of hemp nuts,  flour, protein powder etc.

Happy Planet and the Industrial Hemp Association Qld, Inc., are two of the forces establishing a National Hemp Association in Australia and will be asking the NZ Association to join forces with Australia to change the hemp food legislation and establish guidelines, standards and a lobby group for the industry.

It is still a risk to Happy Planet to market hemp foods, and it has been with immense difficulty and obstacles in our way.

But we continue to do so for a number of reasons: the owners, their families and staff of Happy Planet are firm believers in the benefits of hemp foods and want the food to be available to them and any member of the public;  the government is dictating what a person can/cannot consume—in this case, hemp food, proven safe, nutritious and does not contain THC.

It’s not just about fighting for the right to consume hemp food, but the freedom of choice for the individual to make their own decision about what they consume.  Bizarre, isn’t it, that cigarette packs have a warning “smoking causes lung cancer”, yet they are legal and people can choose to smoke or not.

We thank all those who continue to support the industry by writing letters to government members asking them to change the legislation. 

In hempiness, Kathleen