Source: European Parliament
Insect producers are food business operators and therefore must be registered and comply with the same safety requirements and Good Hygiene Practices as for any other food, including Regulation (EC) 852/2004[1] on the hygiene of foodstuffs. These requirements need to be controlled by the competent authorities in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625[2] on official controls.
In 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in a Scientific Opinion providing a risk profile related to production and consumption of insects as food and feed[3] that: ‘Despite the documented occurrence of parasites in insects and the linkage between sporadic human parasitic disease and insect consumption (in certain third countries), a properly-managed closed farm environment would lack all the hosts necessary for the completion of parasite life cycles and proper management before consumption, relying on freezing and cooking, can eliminate risks.’
Directive 2003/99/EC[4] obliges Member States to monitor and report zoonoses and zoonotic agents, compiled by EFSA in the annual European Union One Health Zoonoses report[5]. No zoonotic parasites in insects have been reported in these reports, demonstrating the validity of the EFSA opinion and the efficiency of the existing hygiene rules.
- [1] Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs. OJ L 139 30.4.2004, p. 1.
- [2] Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products, amending Regulations (EC) No 999/2001, (EC) No 396/2005, (EC) No 1069/2009, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) No 1151/2012, (EU) No 652/2014, (EU) 2016/429 and (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulations (EC) No 1/2005 and (EC) No 1099/2009 and Council Directives 98/58/EC, 1999/74/EC, 2007/43/EC, 2008/119/EC and 2008/120/EC, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC, 96/23/EC, 96/93/EC and 97/78/EC and Council Decision 92/438/EEC (Official Controls Regulation) (OJ L 95, 07/04/2017, p. 1).
- [3] https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4257.
- [4] Directive 2003/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the monitoring of zoonoses and zoonotic agents, amending Council Decision 90/424/EEC and repealing Council Directive 92/117/EEC (OJ L 325 12.12.2003, p. 31).
- [5] Latest (2023 data) available at https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/9106.