Europe completes first safety assessment on insect use in food

Europe completes first safety assessment on insect use in food

Cricket bread from Finland’s Fazer Group

The European Food Safety Authority has taken the first step toward approving the use of insects in foods for human consumption under a so-called novel food regulation introduced in January 2018.

In a notice posted by the EFSA in November, it said French food processor SAS EAP Group had submitted a request to the European Commission in 2018 under the new regulation to “place on the market” dried yellow mealworms, with the application then passed to the food safety body’s scientists to assess.

Now the EFSA said it has completed the first assessment of a “proposed insect-derived food product”, without naming the company, and noted a “large volume of applications” are in the pipeline, including edible insects, herbal products derived from plants, algae-based foods, and non-indigenous fruits.

The EC’s director general will now have the final say to approve the French firm’s application to bring yellow mealworms to market in the EU.

just-food has approached the EFSA for an idea of when further applications can be expected to be assessed and passed given the time it has taken to consider the French group’s proposal but is still awaiting a response.

In a statement from the EFSA yesterday (13 January), Ermolaos Ververis, a chemist and food scientist at the organisation, who coordinated the “first adopted opinion on insects as novel food”, said: “Insects are complex organisms, which makes characterising the composition of insect-derived food products a challenge. Understanding their microbiology is paramount, considering also that the entire insect is consumed.” 

Ververis continued: “Formulations from insects may be high in protein, although the true protein levels can be overestimated when the substance chitin, a major component of insects’ exoskeleton, is present. Critically, many food allergies are linked to proteins so we assess whether the consumption of insects could trigger any allergic reactions. These can be caused by an individual’s sensitivity to insect proteins, cross-reactivity with other allergens or residual allergens from insect feed, e.g. gluten.”

Meanwhile, the move has been welcomed by another French insect firm, Paris-based Ÿnsect, which is engaged in “natural insect protein and fertiliser production” and has submitted a novel food application to the authorities. It has patented “proprietary technology” to produce mealworms. 

Ÿnsect’s CEO Antoine Hubert said: “This breakthrough is a major achievement that rewards the work that has been done for years by the entire European insect industry gathered under the IPIFF umbrella. We hope that this positive assessment will be the first of many.”

The IPIFF is a non-profit organisation in the EU representing the “interests of the insect production sector towards EU policy makers, European stakeholders and citizens”, its website says. 
 

Published at Thu, 14 Jan 2021 08:29:00 +0000