House crickets, also known as house crickets, and grain mold beetle larvae are not the first approved food insects in Europe. Similar rules already exist for the buffalo worm, the migratory locust and the larvae of the flour beetle (flourworm). Eight other applications are currently awaiting EU approval.
Foods that were not consumed to any significant extent in the EU before May 1997 need this approval as “novel foods”. Now that includes the cricket, which can be sold whole, frozen or dried, or in powder form. The powder can now theoretically be found in breads, cookies and crackers, bread and dough mixes, sauces and soups, meat and milk substitutes, potato products and chocolate, among other things. The Vietnamese company Cricket One, which filed the application in Brussels, currently holds the marketing rights for the partially degreased powder of house crickets.
IMAGO/Belgian/Jasper Juinen Buffalo burgers are already being sold in Austria
Strict labeling requirement
The processing of six-legged friends in food is subject to strict rules; Above all, consumers must be informed. The list of ingredients should include the species name as well as the form, for example if powdered insects were added. Allergy information is also mandatory.
debate
What will the diet of the future look like?
For many, insects are a real superfood: they are nutritious and healthy due to their high content of fat, protein, vitamins and fiber – this was also determined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In addition, production saves resources, insects use little water, production causes almost no emissions. Furthermore, insects can also be created in the smallest of spaces.
sustainability issue
“Insects are of central importance to the issue of sustainability, climate change and the future of nutrition,” says food trends researcher Hanni Rützler. She is the author of the annual Food Report and runs the Futurefoodstudio in Vienna. In Europe, insects have only recently been recognized as a source of food, in this country there is simply no tradition of them.
But for about 20 years there has been a huge shift in food culture, especially if you look at the meat debate. The area that consumes animal feed shows the limits of the ecosystem. Insects open up new opportunities, for example, against hunger and food waste. “In general, I welcome the expansion of the spectrum,” says Rützler. “But we also have to give insects a chance.”
insects and the weather
According to the FAO, raising insects emits significantly less greenhouse gases than most other sources of animal protein and uses significantly less water than raising livestock. Furthermore, the area needed for insect farming is significantly smaller than that for animal production. Crickets require twelve times less food than cattle to produce the same amount of protein.
Manufacturers see it similarly: “It’s about reducing meat consumption, it’s insanely unhealthy for people and the planet at the current level,” says Christoph Thomann, co-founder of ZIRP. His company is the leader in Austria’s very manageable market. Products range from snack bars to hamburgers, which are also sold in the refrigerated section of supermarkets. “We should eat a lot more plants, we recommend 90%. Insects serve as a source of animal protein. It must be both-and,” Thomann told ORF.at.
Even vegan people are increasingly turning to insect foods if they want to compensate for deficiencies. “Of course, it depends on the individual circumstances,” says Thomann. Insects have nutritional values that plant products cannot provide to the same extent. The ZIRP assumes that the insects “feel no pain or stress with the current production method. From an ethical point of view, insects can therefore be consumed without hesitation.
“No big benefits”
However, Jürgen König from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Vienna is unwilling to explore the significance of the insects in the dish. “The purpose is not clear to me. There are cheaper and less problematic sources of protein than insects, such as legumes. The sense is neither technologically recognizable to me nor nutritionally. As far as I can see, insects as food don’t have much advantage.”
Of course, it’s legitimate for companies to offer them, and no justification is needed. Approved products have also been tested for safety. “But I think even people who are vegetarian or vegan for ethical reasons don’t eat insects,” König told ORF.at.
Portal/Francois Lenoir Used in Asia for a long time: House crickets as food
Added insect foods are another protein-rich meat substitute, often based on legumes. But insects also need to be bred and “fed up”. This is not comparable to the life cycle assessment of the meat industry, but ordinary animal feed is also used here. “That’s why I don’t understand the argument that reproduction should save resources,” says König.
Thomann disagrees: the insects are specially bred and “don’t eat anything far from us”. They would be fed surplus agricultural produce such as discarded carrots or stale bread.
niche or big market
Whether the discerning Austrian palate will get used to the insects in the dish is another question. In any case, it seems a long way off that insect dust will soon be widely spread in food. However, several restaurants offer grasshopper snacks or insect salad. “There is a scene that likes to experiment,” says König of the University of Vienna. “But it is very small. It is growing, but at a low level. I think it remains a niche product.”
Manufacturer Thomann sees things differently: “Especially since the pandemic, many people want to eat more sustainably and consciously.” More than 30 percent of people in Austria and the EU are willing to consume insects. “We see a big market emerging there.”
“Nobody is forced”
There probably won’t be “a big growing market, but a constant development”, says food trends researcher Rützler. “Processes like this always start in a niche and in urban areas, mainly with younger people, more open to the new and for whom sustainability is an argument. This was also the case with herbal products, which are now established.” If one day there was a CO2 label or if certain taxes were based on sustainability criteria, more companies would get involved, says Rützler.
There still seems to be a long way to go to get there. For now, as a precaution, the EU has assured everyone of their indignation: “No one is being forced to eat insects”, as the commission wrote on Twitter. Everyone can decide for themselves whether or not to buy food made from or with insects.