Finally! I guess the whole of Hungary, but the whole of the EU was anxiously waiting for approval: food made from insects may soon appear on the shelves of domestic stores.
In the territory of the European Union, the larva of the mealybug has been authorized as food. That's great! We were already disgusted by the amount of pork (and the Muslim immigrants are also demanding the banning of pork delicacies), and of course we were told that the anti-cow movement is dangerous, because the released methane increases the greenhouse effect. (Just by the way: on the one hand, cow burping results in much more gas, and on the other hand, the oil industry is responsible for a good third of emissions.)
Bring us the worm, it's not enough!
For my part, however, I do not wish to engage in melee to get my daily supply of maggots, preferring to drink milk and stick rather nonjudgmentally to the repulsive steak. I'm sorry, but I'm not environmentally conscious enough to keep any maggots I may have swallowed inside me.
Hungary, on the other hand, opposes the use of insects for food purposes, as Magyar Nemzet writes about this:
The Ministry of Agriculture stated: "According to our country's point of view , there is no protein shortage in Europe to such an extent that would justify the use of insect proteins for food purposes. In addition, there is no tradition on the continent of consuming these protein sources, so Hungary does not support the decision."
At the same time, the majority of member states gave the green signal to the alternative protein source in May this year after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) certified food made from the larvae of the common mealybug as suitable for human consumption in January...
...The recent EU decision is expected to be followed by similar ones in the near future. The reason for this is that the market for insects for food and feed purposes - as an alternative to traditional animal products - has a huge investor base...
But if someone still has an appetite for the new kind of "treat", it doesn't hurt to know that eating insects can have several dangers. We quote again from the Hungarian Nation:
Food safety risks:
– biological: presence of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, prions;
– chemical: presence of heavy metals, toxins, veterinary drugs, hormones, pesticide residues;
– physical: injury can be caused by the sharp parts of the insect;
- special risk: the insect can have an allergic effect, excessive chitin intake can pose a special chemical risk for some insect products, among other things.
Currently, eleven additional insect species are waiting to receive EU-level authorization so that they can be marketed as food. At the same time, serious lobbying against traditional animal protein sources and animal husbandry is taking place in the Western world.
The new EU motto could be: Down with the dirty pigs, down with the cattle, long live the democratic worm!
The Magyar Nemzet article can be read here.
(Cover image: magyarmezogazdasag.hu)
