Insects as Food: The Legal Framework

Abstract

Even though entomophagy is a very old practice, it is considered a new culinary phenomenon in most Western Countries and, as such, it has received little attention from legislators. In the European Union, the regulatory status of insects has been quite controversial until the adoption of the new novel food regulation. In the old novel food regulation no mention was expressly made to insects as novel food and this resulted in different approaches of the European Member States. In some Member States whole insects and their parts were considered outside the scope of the novel food regulation and their placing on the market was not subject to pre-market authorization while other Member States considered insects as a novel food and as such subject to the risk assessment procedure provided by the law. Through the adoption of the new novel food regulation, the legal status of edible insects has been clarified: insects and their part now fall in the definition of novel food and they need to be authorized before being placed on the market. Beside the authorization process, the classification of insects as food poses new challenges when it comes to the legislation applicable to insects farming, slaughtering and processing. In the United States, the approach was not different: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has devoted significant attention to insects in human food as defects, but has given little public attention to insects as human food or as an intentional component of human food. Their regulatory classification is therefore still unclear since they shall either be approved as food additive or their use shall be generally recognized as safe (GRAS) to be legally placed on the US market.