- New EU regulation: Insects allowed in food
- food industry: Insects have already been processed here
- Different products: This is how insects are used
In January of this year, the Commission of the European Union (EU) the list of insects approved as food expanded. The grain mold beetle and the house cricket as a partially defatted powder are available in Europe now approved as food. That comes from one Official Journal of the Commission out. However, this is not entirely new: however, the house cricket is available in frozen, dried or powdered form allowed for almost a year. Many people are outraged by the new EU regulation. However, insects in food are not uncommon. The food industry has been working with the little animals for a long time.
Lice, worms and Co.: These are found in many foods
Not only grasshoppersalso mealworms have been allowed to be processed in food within the EU for about a year and a half. paint scale insects and scarlet scale insects but have been used in the food industry for much longer and are in many popular branded products, such as Utopia reported.
But not only the insects themselves are used in the food industry: theirs too excretions are processed. So becomes the frequently used substance shellac obtained from the excretions of the lacquer scale insects. Shellac is about me resinous substance. Actually, the lice feed on tree sap and then stick covers on branches in which their offspring then grow. This resin is scraped from the trees along with pieces of bark and leftover lice and then processed into shellac by boiling, washing and grinding. The Animal Welfare Organization peta explained: “Although shellac is an excretion product that the offspring of lice no longer need at some point, the industry does not always wait for it. So not only does the resin end up in production, but also with it lots of live lice.”
According to Peta, shellac is used for “everything that shine and not dissolve too quickly should.” This includes sweets, chewing gums, dark chocolatebut also different tablets, cosmetics, hairspray and furniture polishes. Of course, the food industry does not write that on their products. The substance is often listed in the ingredients list with the cumbersome name “E904” hidden. Looking at the ingredients of the popular Children’s chocolate bons from Ferrero you can quickly discover the ingredient “shellac”. Also at the Milka variety “Colorful Cocoa Lenses” shellac is listed in the list of ingredients.
Dyes made from boiled scale insects: this is found in many sweets
A red dyewhich is found in many foods Utopia obtained from scarlet scale insects. The dye is referred to as “red carmine” or “carmine” and is often hidden as “E 120” in the lists of ingredients. In the cosmetics industry, the substance is also called “CI 75470”, “Carmine” or “Cochineal”.
The dye is made by pregnant lice first dried and then boiled become. The additive is widely used: candy such as M&M’s lead “Carmine” on the list of ingredients. The “Sour fireflies” from trolly also contain this red substance.
Also forest honey contains by the way Insect excrements. Because the type of honey is based on honeydew. It refers to sugary excretions aphids, fleas and leafhoppers. Bees collect this honeydew and process it into honey. For many other types of honey, bees use plant nectar as the basis.
Excretions in food: This is how you can avoid insects in food
Who wants to make sure that no animal ingredients in the products that land on the checkout belt should check the ingredients list before buying. But there is also help in the form of Vegan-Markings. seal like that V label for example, exclude dyes derived from animal ingredients. Also the Vegan Flower by the Vegan Society may only be printed on the packaging if it does not contain any animal products. The Vegan Society sees all vertebrates and multicellular invertebrates as animals.
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