Sustainable, edible and nutritious – think about insects again!

In the two years since the EU authorised the first mealworm as a novel food, what changes have since been seen?

Two years ago (1 June 2021), Member States gave their approval to authorise the first insect species (mealworm) as a novel food. Following this landmark decision, the Commission then adopted a legal act thereby allowing a food business operator, which had applied for this authorisation, to place the product on the EU market.

Since then, the Commission has authorised a few more insects as novel foods on the market, such as migratory locust, house cricket and lesser mealworm. Other operators may apply in the future to place similar insect species on the EU market – under well-defined conditions of use, of course.

Does this mean that insects will slowly enter the food chain?

While we can indeed expect more insect-based foods on our supermarket’s shelves, citizens will not be caught by surprise and will know exactly if insects are present in their food. The EU is steadfast in its commitment to transparency so there is no danger that any insects will ‘crawl’ into their cereals or protein powder

The EU legislation makes it mandatory for foodstuffs containing the insects to be labelled as such. This is in addition to the current rules under the food labelling regulation. It lays out the labelling requirements for foodstuffs that will contain the Novel Food. This requirement is in addition to the requirements of the labelling regulation. These laws empower citizens to continue making their own decisions regarding the food that they buy and consume.

In short, consumers can have confidence that when these products appear on our supermarket shelves, they are clearly labelled.

Why are insects being authorised as food? 

As highlighted in the Farm to Fork Strategy, insects may play a more important role in increasing the availability and sourcing of alternative proteins. This represents a key area of research today to enjoy the benefits of these proteins in the future.

The Novel Food Regulation requires an authorisation before such a product can be placed on the Union market. For every authorised insect, a stringent scientific assessment, which considers all the scientific evidence available, was carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and led Member States to give the Commission the go-ahead to allow food business operators who had applied for these authorisations, to place the products on the EU market.  

Of course, it is up to consumers to decide whether they want to eat insects or not, but consuming insects is nothing new as they already are included in diets of hundreds of millions of people, in many parts of the world. 

What are the next steps in this area? 

The Commission has received several applications for the authorisation of other insect species such as honeybee drone broods (Apis mellifera male pupae) and black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae.  

Currently, there are 8 applications for insects intended to be marketed in different forms, which are being subject to an evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Once a positive opinion is delivered by EFSA, the Commission will proceed with the authorisation process and discuss with the Member States.  

Looking ahead, we can safely say that we have a robust regulatory framework for the pre-market authorisation of this type of products that allows food innovation while guaranteeing food safety and promoting the internal market.

Therefore, insect species authorised under the novel food regulation are expected to become an ever-more present and important source of alternative protein in our diets.