Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Commission Web Page, 3 May 2021
The following is an extract from a Commission webpage relating to Novel Foods. For the full details, see: Approval of first insect as Novel Food
What has been approved by the Member States
The Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (Novel Food and Toxicological Safety section), which is composed of representatives of all EU countries and chaired by a European Commission representative, has given, on 3rd May, a favourable opinion on the draft legal act authorising the placing on the market of dried yellow mealworm, as a novel food.
The term yellow mealworm refers to the larvae of the beetle Tenebrio molitor.
This novel food is intended to be used as a whole, dried insect in the form of snacks or as a food ingredient, in a number of food products.
Why are we approving insects as food?
Novel Food is defined as food that had not been consumed to a significant degree by humans in the EU before 15 May 1997, when the first Regulation on novel food came into force. Although there is anecdotal evidence of insects consumed as food in the past, no Member State has confirmed human consumption to a significant degree prior to 15 May 1997 for any insect species.
The Novel Food Regulation requires an authorisation before a novel food product can be placed on the Union market.
The Novel Food Regulation is only about the approval of a product, following a stringent scientific assessment made by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The Authority verifies, in light of the scientific evidence available, that the food does not pose a safety risk to human health.
What has happened today is one of the final steps in the procedure for authorising yellow mealworm as a novel food. Member States gave their green light for the Commission to allow a food business operator, which had requested this authorisation, to place the product on the EU market. The Commission will now adopt a legal act to that end.
There are already insects already being sold as food in the EU. How is this possible?
This is true, for historical reasons.
There has been doubts amongst the Member States on whether whole insects were covered by the former Novel Food Regulation. This uncertainty was clarified by the ruling of the European Court of Justice (1 October 2020) which concluded that whole insects did not fall within the scope of that regulation and could thus be placed on the market without a pre-market authorisation.
In turn, the current Novel Food Regulation, applicable since 1st January 2018, explicitly considers whole insects as novel foods, which must thus get an approval.
In order to alleviate the impact of this extension of the novel food regime on the food business operators (FBOs) of whole insects, the current Regulation provides for a transitional period which allows FBOs to continue placing whole insects on the market subject to certain conditions. In particular, a request for an authorisation under the current novel food regulation had to be submitted to the Commission by 1 January 2019.This is why some insects are already on the market, while their scientific assessment under the Novel Food Regulation is still ongoing
