Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies a detection method for (cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA)) in hemp seed oil based on high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The application range runs from 5,0 mg/100 g (limit of quantification) to 500 mg/100 g expressed in hemp seed oil as consumed.

Purpose

Cannabis sativa L. is an annual herb of the genus Cannabis in Moraceae. According to its THC content, it can be divided into industrial hemp and recreational marijuana. Industrial hemp is hemp with THC content lower than 0.3%, recreational marijuana is hemp with THC content higher than 0.3%.

Industrial hemp is widely used in textile, paper, food, medicine, health, daily chemical, leather, automobile, construction, decoration, packaging and other fields. The extract of industrial hemp mainly contains cannabinoid such as THC, CBD, CBN, CBDA, THCA, etc. These kinds of cannabinoid are the most concerned and widely used ones. Besides THC, it can cause the high sensation of nerve and addiction to some extent, and other cannabinoid can reduce inflammation and tranquilize the mind.

Therefore, the international supervision of industrial hemp is also more cautious, and the attitude is different. At present, most countries in the world have strict control over recreational marijuana and industrial hemp. For example, China takes fully control on recreational marijuana. While for industrial hemp, only a certain amount of regulated cultivation and processing licenses are allowed in Heilongjiang Province and Yunnan Province. But the control of marijuana and hemp in many countries is also gradually liberalized.

As early as 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to fully legalize cannabis cultivation and trading. In 2018, Canada became the second country after Uruguay to legalize the use of cannabis. The Netherlands allows the sale and consumption of small quantities of cannabis, and allows the purchase and possession of five grams of dry cannabis or cannabis juice. It's illegal to have excess weight. Pakistan allows the use of marijuana.

Traditionally, smokers can smoke marijuana in hotels and gatherings. Marijuana can be used in some rituals in India. In addition, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Israel, Spain and the United Kingdom also allow the medical use of cannabis. At present, 15 states and Washington, D.C. in the United States have legalized recreational and medical marijuana thoroughly. The laws of most other states regard possession of recreational marijuana as a misdemeanor. Only in a few states will people go to prison for cannabis. More states are expected to legalize cannabis these years.

see map in annex : Where blue for legal, yellow for illegal but not criminal, pink for illegal but usually not enforced, red for illegal.

With the gradual legalization of industrial hemp all over the world, the food containing hemp extract has developed rapidly in recent years, and soon become a star in the global food industry. At present, chocolate, beverage, oil are the main forms for food productions. Amazon now has hundreds of foods added with industrial hemp extract. In 2019, the CBD market is expected to about $5.7 billion and will reach to $22 billion by 2022.

But at the same time, industrial hemp extract also contains some national controlled substances such as THC. At present, some children have been injured after eating industrial hemp extract added food all over the world. Meanwhile AOAC has proposed SMPR for the detection methods of five cannabinoids in chocolate and beverages. However, there is no SMPR for the detection methods of cannabinoids in hemp seed oil. It is necessary for the countries that need to control industrial hemp seed oils to develop the corresponding qualitative and quantitative methods standard for cannabinoids for law enforcement and supervision. Meanwhile, for oil production enterprises, testing institutions and regulatory departments in the countries where industrial cannabis is legalized, they cannot control the quality of products because they cannot determine the content of cannabinoid in food without this standard. It may even cause these countries to be unable to register such oil products. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a stable and accurate method for the determination of cannabinoids in vegetable oils.

The establishment of this standard can protect the interests of four groups:

(1) For national regulators, they can use the standard to control and supervise the quality of related oil products and impose corresponding administrative penalties.

(2) For oil producers and operators, the standard can be used to control product quality and promote the high-quality development of the industry.

(3) For testing institutions, they can issue corresponding testing reports to oil production enterprises according to this standard for product registration.

(4) For consumers, they can know whether there are cannabinoids in the relevant oil, so as to avoid unnecessary medical accidents.