The new 'superfood': the Government seeks to promote cannabis in the kitchen

First it was

.

Later,

.

And now it seems to have come the turn of food.

The Government is analyzing

, which will allow the use of its seeds, which are considered a

.

Producers involved in the issue and food engineers say it, but this qualifier was also given by the

in a statement that it released last week announcing the simplification of procedures in the

.

"There will be a tendency to make better use of the different

, considering it as a superfood", reads the text in which it is detailed that the National Food Commission (CONAL) is advancing in the regulations and in "accompanying the existing national regulations on the cultivation of cannabis and industrial hemp" with the aim of "promoting the development of

."

As

was able to learn from sources linked to the sector, on March 7 the proposal of the National Food Institute (INAL) entered to include hemp seeds and their derivatives and also cannabidiol (CBD) in the Food Code, which regulates everything that has to do with the

in the country.

They say that work is being done and they believe that inclusion will come out, but that there are still "some opinions of more conservative older people who continue to cling to

that links everything that has to do with cannabis with the drug."

When cannabis was legal

There was a time when cannabis was completely legal.

For example, an advertisement published in the newspaper La Nación in 1871 promoted the sale of "cannabis cigars" imported from India that were indicated for asthma, hoarseness, suffocation, insomnia, and nervous cough.

Cannabis was legal until it was banned in 1961. Photo Maxi Failla

The Spanish sociologist and anthropologist Isidro Marín Gutiérrez, who wrote a book on the history of cannabis, points out that the development of synthetic medicines

.

International control beginning in 1925 and demonization by American magnate William Randolph Hearst (who called it "marijuana") led to the prohibition of cannabis in the United States in 1937, which also halted industrial hemp in textile

and of paper.

The United Nations

in the Single Convention on Drugs of 1961. In 2020, the same body removed it from the list of drugs in which it appeared along with heroin, enabled medical and scientific use but defined that recreational

.

Before talking specifically about cannabis as food, other necessary clarifications are worthwhile.

One, legal, which in Argentina has already been approved in addition to the first medical cannabis law in 2017, the law for the development of the medical cannabis and industrial hemp industry in May of last year, which has not yet been regulated.

Depending on the use that you want to give to the plant, it is the phytosanitary management that is done.

In fact, plantations for medical cannabis or for industrial hemp are separate.

If you are aiming to use its fibers, tall plants are required, which is not necessary in the case of medical cannabis or “cannabis superfood”.

"When we talk about

, we have to define two universes," Pablo Fazio, president of Argencann, the Argentine Chamber of Cannabis, makes another differentiation.

The first is what is called "horticultural hemp", that is, the

.

But there is also what is called “

which are foods that use the psychoactive properties of cannabis, such as CBD, as addictive to give

to their consumers.

A very useful use is infused or isotonic waters for athletes, which have

, ”he explains.

The cannabis seed has many nutritional properties.

Photo: Fernando de la Orden

And you can also use the small flakes attached to the flower, which are removed in a process called trimming, to

.

“They are not far from the teas that we buy today in diet stores, many people prefer to take treatments for some things by taking infusions than buying medicines in pharmacies,” he points out.

Regarding cannabis as food,

.

Leandro Da Silva is a food engineer and explains that a first cold pressing is done from which a

is obtained .

And in what remains of the seed, 30% are proteins.

And that flour that is processed from the seed “has 40% fiber, of which 15% are digestible fibers, in addition to vitamins and minerals.

”, he remarks.

Oil and flour then is what gives us the cannabis seed.

And both have important nutritional properties.

"The nutritional value of food is measured by its contributions; in proteins, by essential amino acids and in fats, by essential fatty acids. Cannabis oil has omega 6 and omega 3 in an optimal ratio

 health "And regarding proteins, those of plant origin do not have good digestibility but in this case they do. Compared to legumes, for example, it does

and that is also important when it comes to consumption," explains the specialist.

Da Silva, who works in the baking industry, warns that cannabis flour is not suitable for breads because

.

But it is ideal for mixing with other flours because it can

and it is highly recommended to add it precisely to diets without TACC.

Regarding the oil, he says that it has a very pleasant

and that it is advisable

.

For Fazio, "hemp is going to be

."

He sees that today we are "in a state of pre-industry" and that "hand in hand with entrepreneurs and SMEs that have fewer restrictions than large corporations to develop markets, these products will appear.

We are waiting for the imminent regulation of the hemp law and the idea is that the industry is formalized to have quality projects.

But it is impossible to think of an industry if we do not have the main thing, which is

”.

Part of the team that participated in the first experimental hemp harvest.

IHS photo

In this sense, there is also progress.

This month, and after half a century, the first experimental hemp harvest took place in the country, a crop that

.

The company Industrial Hemp Solutions (IHS) did it, with the technical support of the UBA and teams from the Ministry of Agriculture, SENASA and the National Seed Institute.

Maximiliano Baranoff is Director of Innovation at IHS.

He came from the

and he also sees in hemp an opportunity in this regard.

“Hemp is an annual crop that sequesters four times more carbon dioxide than a forest forest.

Not only does it have an impact on greenhouse gases, but in a regenerative agriculture scheme

you plant: for example, in rotation of hemp with potatoes it improves yield by 20% and 30%”.

And, he adds, if the expeller (the residue from oil extraction) is used to feed cattle, methane production will decrease, which "is also

."

The company's pillar is genetics, for which they brought 15 from different parts of the world, some more aimed at grain and others at fibers, and validated them in nine ecoregions.

But they also want to get into

.

Thus, its business model aims to sell the seed that works best for each producer, to generate production agreements with them to buy grains and stems and transform them respectively into oil and seeds and fibers, and to continue investing in research to validate the genetics every year.

“There are many local value chains in which hemp can be introduced and there is an

in Europe and in China”, he remarks.

And Fazio agrees: “Our food industry is one of the best in the world.

”.

Dreaming of being the barn of the world again, but from cannabis.

ACE

look too

Medical cannabis: there are already 200,000 registered in the self-cultivation registry and the Government expedited the process

From pressing to "cool" flowers: they warn that the marijuana market was reactivated due to self-cultivation