Earlier this year, the European Union (EU) approved the us of partially defatted powder of Acheta Domesticus (the house cricket) to the region’s food market..essentially in the form of insect flour.
The E.U. Commission passed the application presented in 2019 by the Cricket One Company. Now, food producers can use the powder in the production of several foods, including pizza and pasta-based products, nuts and oilseeds, snacks and sauces, meat preparations and soups, multigrain bread and rolls, crackers and breadsticks, cereal bars, dry pre-mixes for baked products, biscuits, processed potato products, legume- and vegetable-based dishes, whey powder, maize flour-based snacks, beer-like beverages and chocolate confectionery.The go-ahead came on the heels of the scientific opinion expressed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which verified and approved the safety of the new powder.EFSA also approved the powder production process, which includes a 24-hours fasting period for the insects before they are frozen, washed, thermally processed, have their oil extracted and, finally, transformed into dried-up powder.The march of house crickets into European kitchens will not be completed alone. On January 6th, the E.U. Commission also approved the introduction of the frozen, paste, dried and powdered forms of Alphitobius diaperinus larvae, also known as the lesser mealworm, to the consumer food market.
This was one regulation too much for Italy. The nation, known for its fabulous cuisine, has banned use of insect powder in pizza and pasta.
The rules will also force insect-based foods to be distinguished by labeling and segregation.
The growing use in cooking of flour made from crickets, locusts and insect larvae has met fierce opposition in Italy, where the government is to ban its use in pizza and pasta and segregate it on supermarket shelves.In a sign of fear that insects might be associated with Italian cuisine, three government ministers called a press conference in Rome to announce four decrees aimed at a crackdown. “It’s fundamental that these flours are not confused with food made in Italy,” Francesco Lollobrigida, the agriculture minister, said…..All four insects are cited in the Italian decrees, which will require any products containing them to be labelled with large lettering and displayed separately from other foods.“Whoever wants to eat these products can, but those who don’t, and I imagine that will be most Italians, will be able to choose,” Lollobrigida said.Orazio Schillaci, the health minister, said the legislation would also ban the use of insect flours in “typical” Italian products like pizza and pasta.
At the same time, and in an intriguing move, Italy has also applied for its cuisine to be placed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) list for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The government has decided, on a proposal from the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Francesco Lollobrigida and Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, to nominate the practice of Italian cuisine for this year’s UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.The dossier will now be transmitted by the foreign Ministry to UNESCO and the evaluation process will begin, which should be completed by December 2025 at the latest, the sources said.In its candidacy dossier, Italian cuisine is defined as a “combination of social practices, rituals and gestures based on the many local flavours that, without hierarchy, identify it and mark it out.
On the other hand, the Germans are taking an entirely different approach to insects.
A German ice cream parlour has expanded its menu with a skin-crawling offering – cricket-flavoured scoops with the dried brown insects on top.The unusual confection is available at Thomas Micolino’s store in Rottenburg am Neckar, in southern Germany, news agency dpa reported.Mr Micolino has a habit of creating flavours that are far outside Germans’ typical preferences for strawberry, chocolate, banana and vanilla.In the past, he has offered liver sausage and Gorgonzola cheese ice cream as well gold-plated ice cream for 4 euros (£3.50) per scoop.
I sure hope Germans don’t begin to use insects in their beer.
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