• State authorities have approved the draft law on the use of insects in food products.
The subject that has sparked intense debates since September 5, 2023, when the draft law received a favorable opinion from the Senate, now receives the approval of the Romanian decision-making forum, namely the Chamber of Deputies.
Thus, it was adopted Draft Law 493/2023 submitted by the PSD which regulates the use of insect meal in the preparation of food products and their labeling and marketing on the territory of our country.
From the document data, on the product labels containing insect meal the name will be found the newly authorized food at the level of the European Union, as follows: "dried yellow mealworm (authorization no. 169/2022), frozen or in powder form, depending on the form used; flour beetle larvae (authorization no. 58/2023) in frozen or paste form; partially defatted homemade cricket powder (authorization no. 5/2023); frozen/dried/powdered/whole locust" (authorization no. 1.975/2021).
What the new law provides
O provide important aspect of the adopted law is the protection of traditional products. In this regard, the document specifies: "is prohibited economic operators the use, on the territory of Romania, of new foods authorized in the preparation/production of food products provided in the National Register of Traditional Products and the National Register of Sacred Recipes".
At the same time, it will be forbidden to prepare or produce food products, as well as to label and sell them under the name originally used, if they have insect flour among the ingredients.
In the spring of this year, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, one of the initiators of the bill, announced: "Just as other European countries have done, so must we! In addition, all imported food products containing ingredients derived from insects must be displayed separately on store shelves. People need to know what they are buying and the label should be clear and contain full information about these products."
The new law states that "food products that contain insect species authorized to be introduced on the market as new foods, originating from the European Union area, will be presented in the classic direct sales areas, in a separate stand, delimited from the stands that contain established products that do not contain insects".
In addition, this information must be displayed "on the support or panel in a contrasting color to the background color of the panel and the information must be written in a visible, easily accessible place".
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
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