The European Commission has finally come to recognize that at least industrial hemp leaves do not qualify as novel food. (1) Waiting for Brussels bureaucrats-after years of spinning the rules to apply to Cannabis Sativa L. and its derivatives (2,3)-to also recognize evidence of consumption of other parts of the plant. Not only seeds and leaves, but also hemp flowers.
1) Hemp seeds, leaves and flowers, 700 years of food tradition in Italy
Hemp seeds, leaves and flowers have been part of the Old World food tradition in Italy for at least 700 years. As reflected in medieval, Renaissance and later recipe books (4,5,6,7).
Hemp soup for 12 people, in the recipe of Bartolomeo Sacchi known as the Platina, is prepared as follows: ‘Wash a pound [327g, ed.] of hemp well and cook it so long until it (separates, divides, opens). Once cooked mix it with one pound of almonds and add some breadcrumbs. Pound it all in a mortar, throw it into a lean broth, and then tip it through a sieve into a pot. Then place the pot on the stove and turn it often with a spoon. Later, when it is at the cooking point, add half a pound of sugar, a half-ounce [14g, ed.] of ginger, some saffron and some water of roses. Once the soup is cooked, pour it into a few bowls and sprinkle with sweet spices’. (4)
‘If you want tortelli with hemp flowers [ hemp, ed.]
Remove these leafless hemp flowers is cook them with the pork belly. When she is nearly cooked (put) to boil the flowers and (when) the meat is cooked, beat each one for itself. Take out fine cascio, as much as it is meat, and fine spices and makes tortelli.’ (5)
2) Cannabis Sativa L., traditional foods or novel foods?
The first recognition of traditional food consumption of parts of Cannabis Sativa L. — by the European Commission — concerned seeds. Indeed, the consumption and sale of the seeds, and the hemp oil derived from their pressing, have continued steadily over the centuries. Until the present day, when the scientific community has recognized the values of their composition due to their rich supply of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fiber and micronutrients. (8)
It was not until June 2, 2023 that the European Commission recognized that hemp leaves, like seeds already do, also qualify as traditional foods and are therefore not subject to the complex authorization procedure established by the Novel Food Regulation (EU) No 2015/2283. And it wouldn’t have it any other way, after years of urging from the European association representing the Cannabis Sativa L. supply chain.
3) Hemp leaves, evidence of food consumption in Europe in the 20th century.
EIHA, European Industrial Hemp Association, has demonstrated with extensive evidence the food consumption of hemp leaves in several EU member states prior to May 15, 1997, when the first Novel Food Regulation EC No 258/97 came into effect. (9) Hemp leaves, consequently, should be qualified as traditional foods and can be freely marketed.
Cannabis Sativa L.
– as noted above (10) – has been framed in EU legislation as both an ‘agricultural product’ and an ‘industrial product’ since 1988. Its cultivation therefore benefits from subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy and should indeed be encouraged-as is already the case in the UK-for its extraordinary CO2 sequestration capacity. (11)
4) Green light to hemp leaves and flowers cut herbal tea.
The Eurocrats’ decision on hemp leaves should help prevent a recurrence of the misunderstandings that have led to the unjust persecution-perpetuated over the years and still, in several member states-of companies that produce and/or market herbal teas based on Cannabis Sativa L.
Moreover, the legal certainty of the legitimacy of the production and sale of herbal tea-cut hemp leaves and flowers has already been affirmed by the EU Court of Justice, in its November 19, 2020 judgment (Case C-663/18). (12) The EU Court of Justice, remember, is the only official interpreter of EU rules. Member states and any other jurisdiction institutions must comply. (13)
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Clarification on legality of hemp leaves in EU should boost tea market. https://hemptoday.net/clarification-on-legality-of-hemp-leaves-in-eu-should-boost-tea-market/ Hemp today. 5.6.23
(2) Dario Dongo. CBD, food hemp and cosmetics. ‘Big Pharma‘ against all. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.5.19
(3) Dario Dongo. Hemp and CBD, the great chaos. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.11.19
(4) Bartolomeo Sacchi known as the Platina. De honesta voluptate et valetudine. See footnote 7
(5) Bruno Laurioux. ‘Le registre de cuisine de Jean Bockenheim, cuisinier du Pape Martin V‘, in Rome, Moyen Age, tempes Modernes, 100, 1988, pp. 709-760
(6) Recipe no. 26 in O. Guerrini’s book. Fragment of a 14th-century cookbook published on the day of the Carducci – Gnaccarini wedding. http://archive.org/details/frammentodiunlibOOguer (Zanichelli editore, Bologna, 1887)
(7) Giampaoli Glenda. The Hemp (Effe publisher, Perugia, 2004)
(8) Laura Pontassuglia, Dario Dongo. Superfood, hemp. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.3.18
(9) EIHA. Hemp leaves are traditional foods. https://hemptoday.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/EIHA-collection-of-evidence-leaves-202206.pdf
(10) Dario Dongo. Industrial hemp and circular economy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.8.19
(11) Marta Strinati. The power of hemp to sequester carbon at the center of Hemp-30. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.1.23
(12) Dario Dongo. Natural CBD, EU Court of Justice declares unjustified bans unlawful. New Horizons. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 21.11.20
(13) Dario Dongo. Hemp flowers and leaves, green light in France and Italy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 15.2.23
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
