Grant: College and Community Innovation Program

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.