6.7 Use in nutrition (seeds, leaves and flowers)

The cultivation of hemp in the Netherlands mostly focuses on bast fibres and shives. Separating these properly requires good retting of the stalks, as well as sufficient opportunities to dry the stalks before baling and storing for further processing. With the northern Dutch climate, this requires harvesting around the flowering period, which means that no seeds can be harvested. For textile applications, harvesting is also done around flowering.

For good seed formation, many hours of sunshine are desirable. There are developments to grow hemp in the southern part of the Netherlands, investigating whether weather conditions there are suitable to achieve sufficient retting after later harvesting such that the seeds are mature and can be harvested.

To the extent that the seeds can be harvested (this is quite possible in more southern countries), they are used in food, for instance in muesli. Oil can also be pressed from the seeds. Leaves and flowers are used to make tea. Flowers, leaves, seeds, oil from seeds and seed parts are also used to add flavour to beer.^[1]

In all dry products, the THC content should be below 3 mg/kg; in hemp oil a maximum of 7.5 mg/kg is foreseen as per EU legislation.^[2],[3]

Feed
Hemp leaves are high in protein and in principle suitable as animal feed. The flowers or the whole plant can also serve as animal feed. The use of leaves and seeds as animal feed is currently not allowed in the Netherlands. For the marketing of feed materials it is advised to verify the national legislation and to follow the requirement established in EU legislation.

Medicinal cannabis
To cultivate, process or research cannabis with increased THC content, a specific licence is needed in the form of an exemption from the Opium Act. This is done only after obtaining permission from the Medicinal Cannabis Agency, an agency of the Ministry of Health. In the Netherlands, medicinal cannabis is only produced through protected cultivation on a pharmaceutical basis through greenhouse cultivation or in cultivation cells. At the same time, this is only done after ordering on doctor's prescription through pharmacists who submit their application to the agency.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_beer#cite_note-8

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/Verordening-maximumgehalten-THC

[3]  EIHA press release on EU wide regulation on maximum THC levens in hemp seeds and derived products, https://www.linkedin.com/Nova-post/Europe-adopts-maximum-THC-levels-in-food