Insect protein in aquaculture step closer

At its General meeting held on 17 November, IPIFF – the European Umbrella Organisation representing the interests of Insect Producers for Food and Feed – welcomed the recent progress made by EU policy makers on ‘key’ dossiers for the sector.

Notably, IPIFF welcomed the recent publication of the EU guidance on Novel Food by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). ‘The IPIFF members highly value this document as ‘baseline’ for insect producers to prepare applications in order authorise their products as food on the European market’, said Antoine Hubert, the IPIFF President.

‘IPIFF will now further elaborate on this document in order to outline the specificities of insect products and single out the elements which are particularly relevant to demonstrate their safety for human consumption’ added Hubert. These notably include relevant information on production standards and on the substrates used to feed the insects – i.e. two critical elements underlined by EFSA in its opinion from 8 October 2015. ‘The IPIFF members comply with the necessary food safety procedures (e.g. HACCP procedures) enabling them to control effectively any hazards along the production process’ explained Heidi de Bruin, the Chair of the new created IPIFF Task Force on Novel Food. ‘IPIFF is now committed to collaborate with EU authorities and share with them any information which could be useful in view of the future evaluation of applications for authorisation. Close cooperation among insect producers seeking for an authorisation is also important’ concluded Ms de Bruin.

‘IPIFF also welcomes the recent European Commission proposal for authorising the use of insect proteins in aquaculture: ‘we are particularly pleased with the recent move made by the EU Executive and we now call for a swift adoption of these proposals by EU authorities’ said Antoine Hubert. ‘The timely adoption of the proposed reform is indeed crucial to accelerate investments and the further growth of the EU insect sector, therefore preserving its current global leading position. This authorisation will also contribute to alleviate European dependency on protein imports (70%) whilst securing a promising source of protein for EU farmers & customers’ added Hubert.