Insects just moved a step closer to European dinner plates.
Dried yellow mealworm, the larval form of the mealworm beetle, is safe for human consumption in both its whole form and as a powder additive, the EU’s food watchdog said on Wednesday, ruling on an application by French insect farmer EAP Group SAS - Micronutris, now known as Agronutris.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) opinion is a first step before officials consider whether to approve sales of snacks, protein bars, cookies and other foods containing the bugs as ingredients.
Photo: AFP
The decision is a jolt for the insect-farming business, which researcher Arcluster predicts could grow 10-fold to exceed US$4.1 billion globally by 2025.
Insects are emerging as a more sustainable source of protein thanks to their lower environmental impact and high nutritional value, attracting record venture-capital financing and attention from giants such as Cargill and Nestle SA.
“It’s a clear and important milestone for the whole sector,” said Antoine Hubert, cofounder of France’s Ynsect SAS, which rears mealworms and plans to expand into sports nutrition. “There will be a snowball effect. It will increase the potential to invest in further capacity and attract further funding to support the growth.”
This is the first risk assessment of insects as novel food by the Parma, Italy-based EFSA, which has another 14 pending applications for bugs — from crickets to grasshoppers.
It also said allergic reactions to the mealworms are possible, so more research needs to be done.
Europe is at the forefront of the burgeoning insect-start-up scene, identifying bugs as part of its sustainable food agenda.
EU authorities have poured money into research and factories, and the bloc already allows fish, dogs and cats to eat insect meal.
Feeding animals, rather than humans, has shown the biggest promise. The International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed expects poultry and pigs to come next.
Of Europe’s projected output of 3 million tonnes of insect protein in 2030, only 10 percent would go into human food, with much of the rest going into animal feed, the Brussels-based lobby group estimated.
“There are more and more opportunities to work with new sustainable ingredients for the animal feed industry,” Helene Ziv, risk management and sourcing director for Cargill’s animal-nutrition business, said in an interview. “Insects is actually one which we strongly believe in. We’re very comfortable about its nutritional quality.”
Cargill has a partnership with InnovaFeed SAS to supply insect protein for fish feed, while Archer-Daniels-Midland Co is planning a giant black soldier fly farm in Illinois.
Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, added a pet food range made with insects.
A handful of EU states — including Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands — already permit sales of bug-containing foods in shops.
About 2,000 insect species are in the diets of about 2 billion people worldwide, but many consumers in Europe have to overcome what Niccolo Manzoni, managing partner at Paris-based Five Seasons Ventures, calls the “ick factor.”
That is not the only hurdle.
Insect-feed makers require substantial funds to scale up production in order to be cost-competitive, Manzoni said.
The industry has a long way to go to reach the commercial volumes supplied now by the marine ingredients sector, said Anne Mette Baek, director of the Copenhagen–based European Fish Meal and Fish Oil Producers.
One company already moving toward the dinner table is Protix BV, which operates Europe’s biggest insect farm and has investors including Aqua-Spark and Rabobank’s private equity arm.
The Dongen, Netherlands-based manufacturer rears black soldier fly larvae for feeding to fish and pets, and last summer it opened an online store selling foods made with crickets and mealworms.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia