• Up to date information
  • On the pulse
  • Interest in our Industry
Locusts_on_sticks_Food_Labelling_Services_1485715814

Insect innovation: Getting the right flavour and texture for your product

Insects are still awaiting novel food authorisation in the EU although this has not hampered innovation with a number of European companies already up and running and profiting from a legal grey area in certain cases. 

The overall attitude seems to be that while it's not an easy regulatory environment to navigate, this trend is about to explode and entrepreneurs don’t want to miss out - even if the novel food deadlock means that bricks and mortar retail channels are closed with sales instead coming from online shoppers.

One door in Europe is about to open, however.

On 1 May this year Switzerland will legalise 3 species of insects 

 

You can read the full article HERE

 

Food Labelling Services comments:

The use of insects as food falls under Regulation (EC) No 259/97 on Novel Foods. According to the regulation, food ingredients (for instance, protein isolates) extracted or isolated from insects fall within the definition of novel food as 'food ingredients isolated from animals'. Insects, parts of which have been removed (such as legs, wings, head, intestines, and so forth) also fall within this definition. However, there has been uncertainty amongst the Member States on whether the regulation also covers whole insects or preparations made thereof (for instance, worm paste). Most Member States are not allowing any foods from insects on their market as none have been authorised as novel food, but a few Member States tolerate whole insect-based foods and products on their market. For example, cubes of ground-up insects and bags of whole mealworms, crickets and grasshoppers are on sale in the United Kingdom. The European Parliament and Council agreed on a new regulation on novel foods in November 2015 (Regulation EU 2015/2283). Applicable from 1 January 2018, the regulation brings whole insects, as well as their parts, explicitly under its scope (recital 8 of the regulation). Since insects were not widely consumed in the EU before May 1997 (the date of entry into force of the current regulation, to be repealed by the new one), insect-based foods are considered to be 'novel foods', requiring a pre-market authorisation.

As Switzerland does not fall into the EU, we can watch the Swiss market and understand how the consumer reacts to insect products.