Cultured meat is attracting substantial financial, industry, and even celebrity, backing and media coverage, but can commercial production levels be achieved and how do insects compare as an alternative protein source?
The World Economic Forum (WEF), an international organization composed of the world’s rich, released a promotional video on Jan. 21 hailing insects as the future of Western diets. The video noted that insects are more sustainable to produce than other protein sources.
“Insects are forecast to make up more of our protein consumption in the future,” the clip claimed.
The video also stated that insects are currently used for pet foods while around two billion people in Asia and Africa regularly munch on bugs such as scorpions.
But Europeans have not yet embraced these exotic foods. To encourage insect consumption, the WEF launched a food competition through its digital-crowd engagement platform, UpLink. The competition calls for “innovative, diverse sources of protein that will satisfy tomorrow’s consumers.” The organization stressed the importance of a green protein source as the global population is forecast to hit nearly 10 billion.
Today’s batch of EFSA scientific opinions on
novel food applications includes the first completed assessment of a proposed insect-derived food product. Our safety evaluations are a necessary step in the regulation of novel food
, as our scientific advice supports EU and national decision-makers who authorise these products for the European market.
Since the Novel Food Regulation came into effect on 1 January 2018, EFSA has received a large volume of applications, covering a wide variety of novel and
traditional food sources. These include herbal products derived from plants, algae-based foods, and non-indigenous fruits in addition to an array of edible insect varieties.
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Why Global Citizens Should Care
The United Nations’ Global Goal 2 aims to eliminate hunger and malnutrition by 2030 by transforming the global food chain including how food is produced, and improving efficiency and distribution. The world has enough resources to feed everyone sustainably, it’s just a matter of how. People in wealthier countries switching to more sustainable diets can have a massive impact on driving that change. Take action to help eliminate food and hunger here.
EFSA says mealworms safe for human consumption: ‘An important milestone towards commercialisation’ The European Food Safety Authority has published its first scientific opinion on an insect-derived food. The conclusion? Mealworms are safe for human consumption.
EFSA’s latest batch of scientific opinions on novel food applications includes a significant first – a safety assessment of a proposed insect-derived food product: dried yellow mealworm.
The safety authority’s opinion was coordinated by Ermolaos Ververis, a chemist and food scientist at EFSA.
“Insects are complex organisms, which makes characterising the composition of insect-derived food products a challenge. Understanding their microbiology is paramount, considering also that the entire insect is consumed,” he explained.