Insect flours, decrees ok on ad hoc labels and shelves

MILAN – More transparency in the sale of insect flours, with ad hoc shelving labels. This is what the four decrees issued by the government provide for, as announced at the press conference by the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida: “We need to adopt specific labeling on products that have a derivation from these insects. We give citizens the possibility to choose, freedom is an unavoidable choice but information is the same”, he said.

“I am not arguing – continued Lollobrigida – that one can eat what one considers most suitable for one’s diet” and “I do not consider these products to be in competition with those of the Mediterranean diet, but we do not want the products derived from our business to be the result of mixing with this type of flour”. With regard to food choices, “we believe that all we need to strengthen is consumers’ capacity for discernment. Information is also the basis for correct nutrition”, she concluded.

“We have imagined in the communication levels the origin of the product, the risks associated with consumption and the quantity present in each food that sees the presence of this nature. We have also identified as a sales method that of dedicating special shelves so that those who choose larvae, crickets or locusts can go to those shelves and those who don’t want to do it, which I think will be the majority of Italians, will stay away from them”, added Lollobrigida. The decrees signed by all three ministers were notified today to the EU Commission and will therefore have to wait for the response of the same commission before the new rules are applied.

“In the State-Regions Conference yesterday we gave the green light to the agreement on four draft decrees” relating to the labeling of products containing insect meal, “but we also asked for clarifications on various aspects, in particular a pronouncement from the Ministry of Health on the risks for consumers and therefore to anticipate their full involvement,” he said Frederick Caner, coordinator of the agricultural policy commission of the Conference of Regions The use of flours from insects, he said, “should be clearly explained, as well as the possible health risks”. Furthermore, continued Caner, “we have signaled the need to report the ingredient on the label even if not present at the maximum level foreseen, but also when present in lower quantities, in order to avoid indiscriminate use and possible fraud”. We need, he concluded, “clear information on packaging and every aspect of the food chain, including for that with respect to their exposure and placement to the public of all products containing insect flours”