The European Commission has authorized the marketing of cricket powder as food. Breads, pizzas, biscuits… This kind of flour can already be slipped as an ingredient in many products, provided it is clearly indicated.
Failing to crunch insects directly, a culinary habit that is struggling to seduce the French, will you soon find pizzas, pasta or cookies containing cricket flour on your plates? Yes, if we trust the latest arbitrations of the European Commission which authorized the marketing of these flours produced from insects… Or rather from domestic crickets since the European authorization, published in January 2023 , refers to this kind of insects only.
The request comes from a Vietnamese company, Cricket One. The latter obtained this marketing right for a period of 5 years. But, unlike many fanciful publications circulating the web in recent weeks, several conditions have been slipped by Brussels.
The presence of this cricket flour must therefore be clearly indicated on the label. A mandatory mention is even indicated in the document of the European Commission. The products will thus have to display in the list of ingredients affixed to the packaging the following mention: “powder of Acheta domesticus (household crickets) partially defatted”.
The list of products affected by this European authorization has been published… and it is long if we look at the quantity of food products that may contain this cricket powder. Here is the official list published by the European Commission:
The authorization also includes other obligations including the statement “indicating that this ingredient may cause allergic reactions in consumers with known allergies to crustaceans, molluscs and products thereof, as well as house dust mites.” This marketing is only a first step and the doses of cricket flour are thus regulated.
For example, the company should not put more than 3 grams of cricket flour per 100 grams of cereal bars and 2 grams in its breads. This first symbolic step, however, marks an important development as the market for edible insects, a food very rich in protein, is considered one of the food solutions of the 21st century. Thus, a liter of water is enough to produce a kilo of crickets where it takes more than 4000 to obtain a kilo of chicken according to the FAO, the fund for food and agriculture of the United Nations…
