Insects are making their way to become a menu item on European dining tables after the block’s food safety regulator approves mealworms as safe for human consumption.
Wednesday’s announcement means the larvae – actually beetle larvae – could soon be ground up and used as protein-rich flour to make pasta and bread, or consumed whole in stir-fries and other recipes. The next steps are to obtain marketing and labeling approvals and have the European Commission approve the decision of the European Food Safety Authority.
The ruling provides a lift for companies such as Micronutris, a French edible insect farm that submitted the application, and other startups, including AgriProtein from South Africa, the Netherlands-based Protix, and another French company, Ynsect, which is building a new farm with production capacity of more than 100,000 tons of bugs per year.
The bigger question may be whether Europeans want to eat insects – long a popular snack in parts of Asia and Latin America – even when ground into flour.
Giovanni Sogari, a researcher on social and consumption patterns at the University of Parma in Italy, said many may find it difficult at first. “There are cognitive reasons derived from our social and cultural experiences, the so-called ‘bah factor’, that make the thought of eating insects repulsive to many Europeans,” he said. “Over time and exposure, such attitudes can change.”