Insects are slowly advancing to become a menu item on European dining tables, after the bloc’s food safety regulator approved mealworms as safe for human consumption.
Wednesday’s announcement means that the larvae – in fact, beetle larvae – may soon be ground and used as protein-rich flour to make pasta and bread, or eaten whole in fried foods and other recipes. The next steps involve obtaining marketing approvals and labeling, and for the European Commission to sign the decision of the European Food Safety Authority.
The decision gives a boost to companies like Micronutris, a French edible insect farm that filed the order, and other start-up companies, including South Africa’s AgriProtein, the Netherlands-based Protix and another French company, Ynsect, which is building a new farm with a production capacity of more than 100,000 tons of insects per year.
The biggest question, perhaps, is whether Europeans will want to eat insects – there has long been a popular snack in parts of Asia and Latin America – even if they are made into flour.
Giovanni Sogari, a researcher on social and consumption patterns at the University of Parma in Italy, said that many may find it difficult at first. “There are cognitive reasons derived from our social and cultural experiences, the so-called ‘yuck factor’, which makes the idea of eating insects repellent for many Europeans,” he said. “With time and exposure, such attitudes can change.”