Whilst the rest of the world questions the eating habits of nations like China, the EU's Food Safety Authority has approved the sale of bugs as food in European supermarkets.
“These have a good chance of being given the green light in the coming few weeks,” the secretary-general of the International Platform of Insects for Food, Christophe Derrien, told The Guardian this week.
Since 1997, the EU has required a “novel food” classification to allow the sale of products that had no history of being consumed by humans, meaning that the sale of bugs has been banned in countries like Spain, France and Italy for over two decades.
However, with the new approval, mass production of bug-based food is set to ramp up later this year. This includes Locusts, Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Mealworms, all currently found in markets right across China.
Christophe Derrien is looking forward to the sale of bugs as both a stand alone food and incorporated into existing products, arguing that they are a great source of protein and the production of bug food doesn’t harm the planet. “The sort of foods ranges from whole insects as an aperitif or as snacks to processed insects in bars or pasta or burgers made out of insects,” he said.
The promotion of eating insects has been strong over the last few years, particularly from some environmentalists who insist that we should switch to bug consumption and stop eating meat. Others have suggested that globalist publications like the Economist have been promoting the idea of eating bugs in an attempt to condition us to some, as yet unknown, global event.
Now the go ahead has been given by the EU, it is likely Britain will follow suit, so expect insects on supermarket shelves this autumn.