Crickets, Mealworms and Grasshoppers Are Human Food, EU Says

(Bloomberg) -- Crunchy, nutritious and now likely to hit dinner plates and supermarket isles; three types of bugs have now been certified as food fit for human consumption by the European Union.

European member states have recently approved house crickets, yellow mealworms and grasshoppers as so-called ‘novel foods’ which provides regulation for new them to be brought to market.

The bugs are permitted to be sold in frozen, dried and powdered forms. Protix BV, which operates Europe’s biggest insect farm, says the move will allow them to commercialize insects as a sustainable protein alternative in dishes various types of food, such as cereal bars or dried pasta.

And it’s unlikely that these will be the only bugs to challenge European pallets, the European Commission has said that there are nine approval applications for insects of other kinds. Protix says they have an application for black soldier flies in the works.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.