Hempseed oil: quality parameters by sustainable methods

Cannabis sativa L. cultivation is originated from central Asia, and has been spread across all countries from tropical to temperate regions, in Italy too. Some cultivars, like Felina or Ferimon, are know to contain less than 0.2% of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol in the whole plant. For this reason this plant could be use for food or nutraceutical aim. Every part of Cannabis sativa L. can be used in feeding, from leaves (e.g. in cake, bread) but also seeds, used to extract an edible oil[1,2]. Recent study show that hempseed oil had some pharmacological effects due both to the presence of antioxidant compounds[3] (e.g for rheumatoid arthritis) and to its fatty acid composition [4](e.g. hypercholesterolemy) then it assumption by diet is highly recommended. Quality parameters of edible oils are usually regulated by a specific set of rules, but for hempseed oil there is no specifc regulations. In order to ensure quality of hempseed oil is considered the regulation of edible oils is considered, the paramters choosen are: free fatty acidity, total oxidation value (by number of peroxides and number of p-anisidine), spectrophotometric values (K232, K272 and ΔK), fatty acids profiles, expecially the unsaturted ones (like the omega-3 and omega-6), total phenolic content and also the organoleptic evaluation. Several methods are involed to determinate all this kind of paramters: volumetrics, spectrophotometric and chromatographic ones. The aim of this work is to develop sustainable methods by using a smaller amount of chemicals (e.g. reagents, solvents), reducing also the production of waste, decrease the time analysis and the sample needed in relation to the high cost of the raw materials.