The meme has come true: Europeans can now eat bugs. The European Union finally approved the sale of bugs under the “novel food” category.
Back when the first official regulation regarding food was adopted in the EU, any “food or ingredient which had not been used for human consumption to a significant degree before 15 May 1997” was considered novel food.
Moving on to the current times, with the EU nodding its head to selling and consuming bugs, we are likely to see a mass production of bug-related food including flour and so on in full-scale by the end of this year.
With the UN predicting a potential food crisis, the consumption of bugs and insects is now being given a very serious thought.
Here’s what the secretary-general of the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed said:
“These have a good chance of being given the green light in the coming few weeks.”
For over two decades now, the official sale of bugs has been banned in European nations such as Spain, Italy, and France.
But with the EU’s stamp of approval, from locusts and mealworms to grasshoppers and crickets, many insects are soon going to hit the grocery stores.
The secretary-general of the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed, Christophe Derrien, said that he was looking forward to the upcoming events surrounding the sale and consumption of bugs as both standalone food items as well as being incorporated as an ingredient in other items.
“The sort of foods range from whole insects as an aperitif or as snacks to processed insects in bars or pasta or burgers made out of insects,” said Derrien.
The mainstream media and some prominent cultural institutions have, over time, popularized the concept of consuming bugs on a large scale.
While the production and consumption of bugs can be significantly less taxing on the environment when compared to animal meat, not everybody is welcome to the idea of consuming bugs.
