The generalist press has launched-in several waves and with various shades, colored by the neophobia induced by some organizations-the news that, starting January 1, 2018, insects will be available to eat thanks to the new regulation on so-called Novel Food. (1) Before commenting, it seems appropriate to shed some light on the subject.
Foreword
The Gospel according to Mark relates that ‘John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his hips, and he ate locusts and wild honey‘ (Mark 1.6). Candidate emulators of the Baptist, who can already buy leather clothes and belts, as well as wild honey, will, however, have to wait at least a few months to find grasshoppers, locusts and other orthopterous insects on the shelves of Italian supermarkets.
The new Novel Food regulation, reg. EU 2015/2283, introduces the possibility of also using insects and their parts in the food of European citizens. In fact, insects are explicitly recognized and mentioned as potential food ingredients, subject to the risk assessment and authorization procedures established in the regulation.
Some EU member states – such as Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Finland – have meanwhile authorized the use of insects or their parts in food and feed production, also taking into account the positive assessment – in terms of the substantial absence of risk to human and animal health – made by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) in 2015. (2)
Insects to eat, which species?
Insects still represent a niche sector in Europe, with sporadic and occasional consumption reported in only a few member countries.
Insect species with the greatest potential for use in the EU in food and feed production include crickets and silkworms, mealworms, and house flies.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (3) has carried out risk assessments on the consumption of various insects by humans and animals.
The European Commission, in turn, is co-funding a research project to explore the feasibility of using insect proteins in animal feed.
The European Food Safety Authority(EFSA), commissioned by the European Commission, assessed the conditions necessary to ensure the safety of a number of insects (4) in food and feed production. Taking into account both the rearing conditions of the insects-with particular attention to the organic substrate for their feeding-and the way they are prepared and consumed.
Nutritionally, according to Efsa, insects are distinguished by a high and sometimes extraordinary protein content. Up to 71%, in crickets. A positive aspect, however, which deserves attention as protein is one of the main allergenic vectors.
Insects to eat, what rules?
The Organic Production Regulation (6), on the other hand, already in 2007 included insects among the animals that can be raised in a nature-friendly manner, including them in the definition of livestock production.
The current Novel Food Regulation (5) actually contemplates the possibility of authorizing ‘insect products’ (including their meals), insects as such, or insects as ingredients in novel foods
In view of scientific research and technological developments (…), the categories of food that constitute novel foods should be reviewed, clarified and updated. Categories should cover whole insects and their parts.
(EU reg. 2015/2283, Recital 8)
It remains to be ascertained whether certain insect species had a history of food consumption in Europe prior to 1997. Should evidence to this effect be reached, their release on the market would be rather easy. Be that as it may, subject to ensuring compliance with the food safety and production hygiene requirements that apply in the EU. (6)
More likely, in most cases, the European Commission will be called upon to authorize the marketing of Novel Food partially or totally made from insects, after appropriate risk assessments by EFSA. With the option to adopt a simplified procedure in favor of food matrices that have been consumed for at least 25 years in third countries. (7)
Insects to eat, a reality in being
Experiences developed in Europein recent years show that entomophagy is a reality in being, even before it is a reality in the making. Especially in Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark (as well as Finland and Norway). The most commonly used insects belong to a dozen species including Tenebrio molitor, crickets, locusts, and bachi-worms (including silk).
Dried and chopped insect flours (or insect parts) seem to reap the most success as ingredients included-often in a marginal share, but useful for the protein contribution they offer-in ordinary foods that belong to the eating habits.
Target products are sports bars, snacks, pasta and baked goods (even ordinary bread with insect flour added), and dietary supplements. Sports foods and delicatessens cloaked in exoticism started a path that was first geared toward consumers who were attentive to specific aspects (nutritional, environmental or experiential). To the point of tapping into common taste, expanding market prospects to commonly used foods and modern distribution channels.
Conclusions
Only time will show us the evolution of food consumption in the direction of entomophagy, and it is currently difficult to predict radical changes. Especially in countries like ours, where food culture is anchored in traditions and impassive to novelties, from novelle cuisine to molecular gastronomy.
Insects are not likely to become the primary source of protein-nor have they ever been, in any civilization that has been able to have alternatives-and yet some of their species, in the form of meals especially, may gradually become part of our diet. Under the banner of nutrition and sustainable production, in terms of water and environmental footprint. (8)
Indeed, who knows if our children and grandchildren will once joke about the perplexities of years gone by, toward what may before long be completely taken for granted, as well as harmless.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) See reg. EU 2015/2283, repealing the previous reg. EC 258/97)
(2) See EFSA Scientific Committee, 2015. Scientific Opinion on a risk profile related to production and consumption of insects as food and feed. EFSA Journal 2015;13(10):4257, 60 pp. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4257. V. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/151008a
(3) SEE http://www.fao.org/edible-insects/en/
(4) Musca domestica (Common housefly); Hermetia illucens (Black soldier fly); Tenebrio molitor (Mealworm); Zophobas atratus (Giant mealworm); Alphitobus diaperinus (Lesser mealworm); Galleria mellonella (Greater wax moth); Achroia grisella (Lesser wax moth); Bombyx mori (Silkworm); Acheta domesticus (House cricket); Gryllodes sigillatus (Banded cricket); Locusta migratora migratorioides (African migratory locust); Schistocerca Americana (American grasshopper. See previous Note 2
(6) See reg. EC 834/2007, art. 2.f
(5) See reg. EU 2015/2283, Recital 8, Article 3.2
(6) See reg. CE 178/02, 852/03, 853/04
(7) See reg. EU 2015/2283, articles 14-20 reg 2283
(8) Implementation of the rules already in place, as well as their development, will also not be able to refrain from considering animal welfare in insect farming as well. As has already been the case with mollusks, whose welfare not much would have been thought of in times before our own
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
