ABSTRACT
As with any products that enter the commercial world, there is an inevitable proliferation of regulations to ensure that the products are described correctly, that they are safe, and if claims are made, that there is some verifiable basis for these claims. Patents and other forms of intellectual property protection are another inevitable development as businesses seek to protect their investment in research and development and as researchers and organizations funding research attempt to recover some of their investment. In this chapter we will review the current regulatory status of flaxseed and products derived from flaxseed and provide an overview of the scope of patents related to flaxseed. Standards for the preparation of flax oil for food use are not well defined at this time. The ISO standard “specifies flaxseed requirements for the manufacture of oil for industrial use including foodstuffs” (ISO, 1982; Kolodziejczyk and Fedec, 1995). However, the standard for minimum Iodine Value varies with specification and ranges from 170 for the ISO standard to 177 for the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).
