Cannabis is a controversial ingredient used in certain food products as well as for medical food applications in certain countries. The global cannabis market is estimated at US$150 billion by Green Fund article, whereas Barclays, in its latest European Consumer Staples Report forecast this market to reach US$272 billion by 2028.
Despite the huge market size, a large majority of countries in Asia are still banning the use of cannabis in food products, with some regulating its use tightly for restricted medical applications.
Presently, in the ASEAN region, only Thailand has recently legalised the use of cannabis for medical use, and in August 2019, the country has started the distribution of cannabis oil to terminally ill cancer patients. Two other ASEAN countries, Malaysia and Philippines are also now considering to legalise its use. In Singapore, the use of ‘cannabinoid’ is a controlled substance but allowed under medical supervision, however the use of raw/unprocessed cannabi products are banned in the city state.
There is a strong possibility that more Asian countries will legalise the use of cannabis in certain food products in the future, but the applications will be highly regulated to ensure that consumers will not abuse its use for other illegal purposes.
Many are unaware that cannabis-related ingredients have more than 50,000 commercial applications in the food, oil, nutritional supplements, medical food, livestock food and also in non-food applications like fabrics, plastics, paper and body care products.

Urschel offers this niche industry its cutting equipments namely E TranSlicer Cutter and Comitrol Processor Slant Model 3600 in the manufacturing process involving cannabis.
Its E TranSlicer Cutter accepts firm products up to 101.6mm in diameter and leafy-type, compressible products up to 152.4mm in diameter. Urschel also offers optional static hold-down, non-powered top belt or powered top-belt hold-down assemblies to maintain positive feeding assistance.
Meanwhile, Urschel’s Comitrol Processor Slant Model 3600 is compact in size making it ideal for a wide range of small volume to high capacity production. Manufacturers benefit from a wide selection of cutting heads and impellers that are available for various applications from chopping, flake cutting, granulating, pureeing to emulsifying. Its cuts range from coarse to fine particle sizes.
US-based Urschel sells cutting/reduction machinery which is widely used by leading processors worldwide since 1910. Customers in niche and target markets rely on Urschel’s expertise to assist them in pioneering new markets and new products.