Cannabis: from plant to the market

自2018年10月以来，加拿大大麻合法化为娱乐和医疗目的开辟了一个全新的有趣市场。超临界二氧化碳萃取大麻素可以得到纯度最高的大麻素提取物。然而，利用SC-CO2技术选择性提取大麻素的综合分析尚未进行。此外，开发以大麻为基础的产品仍然面临一些技术和生产方面的挑战。关于工业大麻食品（通常称为“可食用食品”）和天然保健产品的公开信息很少且不一致。目前，这些产品的生产通常是原始的、经验的，对生产控制和对食品安全的影响知之甚少。此外，产品的稳定性与其调理方法（包装和稳定过程）有关，需要进一步研究。开发和向市场推出这类产品必须符合加拿大卫生部的指导方针，同时考虑到公共安全。因此，该项目的目标是克服现有大麻产品开发和大麻产业发展的差距。在整个项目中，我们将在生产的各个阶段为工业合作伙伴提供有用的帮助，包括生产过程、技术挑战和公司变革的实施。这将有助于他们将自己定位为加拿大休闲和天然健康大麻产品的领导者。

The legalization of cannabis in Canada since October 2018 opened an entirely new and interesting market for both recreational and medicinal purposes. Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of cannabinoids could produce the highest purity extract. However, a comprehensive analysis to extract selectively the cannabinoids using SC-CO2 technology has not been yet conducted. Furthermore, development of cannabis-based products still faces several technical and production challenges. Public information on industrial Cannabis-based food products, usually called «edibles», and on natural health product are rare and inconsistent. Nowadays, these products are usually produced in a primitive and empirical way and little is known about production control and impact on food safety. Moreover, the product stability, which is related to its conditioning method (packaging and stabilization processes), needs to be further investigated. The development and introduction of such a product into the market must meet the Health Canada guidelines while considering the public safety. Therefore, the objective of this project is to overcome the existing gaps in the cannabis-based product development and the advancement of cannabis-based industry. Throughout this project, will provide the industrial partners useful assistance at various stages of production, including the production process, the technological challenge, and the implementation of changes in their company. This will help them to position themselves as a Canadian leader of recreational and natural health cannabis-based products.