The TestPledge for Food

To assure consumers that eating hemp foods does not cause a confirmed positive drug test for marijuana, the relevant manufacturers of hemp nut and oil products in North America have initiated the TestPledge program. These companies commit themselves to keeping THC levels in hemp nut and oil below levels at which failing a workplace drug test is extremely unlikely, even when eating high amounts of these products on a daily basis.

Based on the research discussed on the THC Answers page, TestPledge requires that pledging companies achieve this goal by committing to the following THC limits:

• Hemp oil: 5.0 parts per million (ppm)
• Hemp nut: 1.5 parts per million (ppm)

How much hemp oil and hemp nut can you eat?

At the 5 ppm THC TestPledge limit for hemp oil, a person would have to eat in excess of 8 tablespoon servings - half of an 8 oz. bottle - of pure hemp oil per day to ingest 600 µg THC, the dose found not to cause confirmed positive urine tests for marijuana with a wide margin of safety. To increase this margin even further and to address any and all health concerns, setting the daily THC intake at 500 µg per day still allows for slightly over 7 tablespoon servings daily. The recommended daily serving is one to two tablespoons. Currently, aside from pure hemp oil sold as a superior omega 3/omega 6 supplement, the only food products on the market using hemp oil are salad dressings, where no more than a tablespoon of hemp oil would typically be consumed with a salad. However, a consumer may also eat hemp nut on a daily basis, which is why the pledge requirement for hemp oil is so strict.

TestPledge limits THC levels in hemp nut to 1.5 ppm THC. This allows customers to eat up to 14 ounces (more than a 12 oz. can) of hemp nut daily without reaching the 600 µg THC dose. Again, to increase this margin even further and to address any and all health concerns, setting the daily THC intake at 500 µg per day still allows for 12 ounces (a whole 12 ounce can) of hemp nut to be consumed daily. Even persons consuming extensively all hemp nut food products currently in the market will find it all but impossible to eat such quantities. The more stringent THC limit in hemp nut compared to oil was set because hemp nut is more palatable and may be eaten in larger quantities.

THC limits for TestPledge were set low enough to allow for the extensive daily consumption of both hemp oil and hemp nut. For example, one can consume 3 tablespoons of hemp oil AND 8.75 ounces (over a half-pound) of hemp nut before reaching the 600 µg daily dose, or 3 tablespoons of hemp oil AND 7 ounces of hemp nut before reaching the more conservative 500 µg daily dose. This example shows that even enthusiastic hemp food consumers will not be able to consume enough hemp nut and oil food products to produce a confirmed positive drug test. It also shows the TestPledge limits are set low enough to provide an ample margin of safety.

Hemp seed defense no longer viable

The TestPledge program has clearly eliminated the chance that the "hemp seed defense" can be a viable method to explain a confirmed positive for marijuana on a drug test. A 2003 decision verifies that hemp seed and oil consumption can not be used to explain a confirmed positive for marijuana. To download a PDF of the Merit System Protection Board decision in Gary B. Dejong v. Dept. of Justice, click here.

To illustrate that even daily consumers of hemp chips, nutrition bars, pretzels, salad dressing, hummus, cereal, etc. do not need to worry about confirmed test-positives, TestPledge requested Galaxy Global Eatery in New York to estimate the amount of hemp oil and hemp nut ("hempnut") present in their most "hemp intensive" meal. Galaxy is both a fine restaurant serving meals extensively incorporating hemp nut and oil and a retail store selling hemp food and bodycare products. The Galaxy provided the following breakdown of the most hardcore hemp meal most people are ever likely to eat in the United States:

• Salad: Organic Mesclun green salad with hemp miso vinaigrette (0.5 oz. hemp oil per serving)
  
• Appetizer: Hempnut edamame cakes over spicy mango sauce (1 oz. hemp nut per serving)
• Dinner: Hempnut crusted tofu steak with iroquois jalapeno agave succotash (1.5 oz. hemp nut per serving)  
• Desert: Hempnut encrusted key lime pie and hemp ice cream (1.5 oz. hemp nut per serving)

So, in the most hemp intensive meal one is likely to eat, one would eat 4 ounces (a quarter-pound) of hemp nut and a half-ounce (1 tablespoon) of hemp oil. Even with the maximum allowable TestPledge THC content in the shelled hemp seed and hemp oil, this meal would provide less than 240 µg of THC. As TestPledge hemp processors now generally achieve lower THC levels than the maximum TestPlege limits in their hemp oil and hemp nut, actual THC intake will often be less than half of that. Either way, on the same day, everyday, one can have this meal for both lunch AND dinner even at the more conservative 500 µg daily limit, and still be on the safe side of a confirmed positive drug-test.

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