Bugs Are Safe for Humans to Eat, Says EU

[Twilight Hue]

Bugs Are Safe for Humans to Eat, Says EU
Insects are inching their way to becoming a menu item on European dining tables after the bloc’s food safety regulator approved mealworms as safe for human consumption.

Wednesday’s announcement means the grubs—actually beetle larvae—could soon be ground down and used as a protein-rich flour to make pasta and bread, or consumed whole in stir-frys and other recipes. The next steps involve getting marketing and labeling approvals

Does anyone else see this as kind of...Gross? ...To eat pasta or bread made of ground-up bugs?

You eat and drink bugs anyways.

Bugs, rodent hair and poop: How much is legally allowed in the food you eat every day?

If they are tasty why not?

I eat shrimp. A 'bug' of the sea.

 

[Estro Felino]

...btw this will be used as anti-EU argument in my country.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I guess you could go to a restaurant and order fly soup, and then ask the waiter "What's this ant doing in my fly soup?"

I recall hearing that "cockroach cluster" is a rather nice treat.

Imagine going over to someone's place for dinner, and they serve you this:

Would you eat it, politely excuse yourself and leave, or run out screaming for your life?

Welll those are commonly known as "meal worms". But I never planned on making a meal of them.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I wonder what beetle larvae tastes like. Perhaps you wouldn't mind trying and letting us know?

I hear fried grasshoppers taste like sardines.

I love sardines.

 

[Cooky]

I hear fried grasshoppers taste like sardines.

I love sardines.

My grandpa said sardines will put hair on your chest. My sister is living proof.

 

[Cooky]

...I don't know what's wrong with me today.

I'm sorry everyone that you had to sit through this.

 

[SomeRandom]

Bugs Are Safe for Humans to Eat, Says EU
Insects are inching their way to becoming a menu item on European dining tables after the bloc’s food safety regulator approved mealworms as safe for human consumption.

Wednesday’s announcement means the grubs—actually beetle larvae—could soon be ground down and used as a protein-rich flour to make pasta and bread, or consumed whole in stir-frys and other recipes. The next steps involve getting marketing and labeling approvals

Does anyone else see this as kind of...Gross? ...To eat pasta or bread made of ground-up bugs?

Eh, Aboriginals in my country eat (or used to eat, I dunno) witchetty grubs
Witchetty grub - Wikipedia
We call it “bush tucker.”

 

[Heyo]

Safe to eat is not the only issue here
They say "you become what you eat"

Yep. Hazel-, wal-, Brazil, coco-, I like them all.

 

[stvdv]

Yep. Hazel-, wal-, Brazil, coco-, I like them all.

I like women also.... but

 

[stvdv]

Yep. Hazel-, wal-, Brazil, coco-, I like them all.

So, you must be a hard nut to crack

 

[Yerda]

It's not at all gross. I've been practicing entomophagy ever since a local entrepreneur started up a business for it. On top of being an excellent source of protein, the sustainability for insects as food knocks most other sources of protein out of the park. If you ate a cookie with cricket flour, you wouldn't even notice unless someone told you.

It's probably going to be better in terms of CO2 emissions and water use than raising pigs and cows for food. No river pollution from slurry run-off or ecological devastation of sheep grazing.

 

[exchemist]

I ate pork tacos at a Mexican place one time, and the skin was still attached, and there were also thick chunks of skin just thrown in. I couldn't stomach it.

Pork crackling is the most delicious part of eating pork. I cook pork belly quite a bit, which makes fabulous crackling.

 

[exchemist]

It's probably going to be better in terms of CO2 emissions and water use than raising pigs and cows for food. No river pollution from slurry run-off or ecological devastation of sheep grazing.

Yes indeed.

In our household we are now rationing meat from ruminants (beef, lamb) to once a week, because of the methane emissions they cause. So far that has meant substitution with pork, duck and rabbit. I'm not sure about insects just yet, but it is indeed just a matter of cultural associations. As other have (implicitly) pointed out, we are happy to eat marine arthropods so why not terrestrial ones?

 

[Heyo]

It's probably going to be better in terms of CO2 emissions and water use than raising pigs and cows for food. No river pollution from slurry run-off or ecological devastation of sheep grazing.

"New research shows that cricket farming uses 75 per cent less CO2 and 50 per cent less water than chicken farming. Insects are also rich in protein and contain all the nutrients that we get from meat.

“Traditional farming involves a lot of environmental impacts in the form of both greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution by pesticides and fertiliser,” says Ph.D. student Afton Halloran from the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark." - How much more environmentally friendly is it to eat insects?

 

[Secret Chief]

In particular, the feeling of disgust is a *learned* one. As such, it can be *unlearned*.

Such "unlearning" can happen literally overnight, as it did for me. So now, for me, it seems odd that a person can happily eats parts of some creatures but then baulk at eating some others. Cultures, upbringing, experiences are the reasons; but not the individual species.

 

[Erebus]

A good deal of our food preferences are based on training in early life. In particular, the feeling of disgust is a *learned* one. As such, it can be *unlearned*.

Very true. I've actually eaten fried mealworms and crickets that had been seasoned in various spices. They were honestly pretty good. In terms of flavour, I could only taste the spice so I don't know how nice they'd be unseasoned. Texture was pretty much like eating dry rice krispies.

That said, I could probably discover the fountain of youth and still not live long enough to unlearn, "I don't want to eat spiders."

 

[ChristineM]

Bugs Are Safe for Humans to Eat, Says EU
Insects are inching their way to becoming a menu item on European dining tables after the bloc’s food safety regulator approved mealworms as safe for human consumption.

Wednesday’s announcement means the grubs—actually beetle larvae—could soon be ground down and used as a protein-rich flour to make pasta and bread, or consumed whole in stir-frys and other recipes. The next steps involve getting marketing and labeling approvals

Does anyone else see this as kind of...Gross? ...To eat pasta or bread made of ground-up bugs?

They have quietly been pushing bugs as food since i was a child over this side of the pond. Every few years they would offer a spate of documentaries a newspaper articles on how nutritious they are.

They are a better source of protein than meat. I've indulged on occasion and see/taste nothing revolting about it, they can be quite tasty. Mind you, I'll eat almost anything edible.

Fried crickets are quite nice, though i prefer grasshoppers.

Many everyday foods contain bits of bugs, chocolate, peanut butter, canned fruit and veg, coffee, tea... enjoy

 

[SalixIncendium]

Bugs Are Safe for Humans to Eat, Says EU
Insects are inching their way to becoming a menu item on European dining tables after the bloc’s food safety regulator approved mealworms as safe for human consumption.

Wednesday’s announcement means the grubs—actually beetle larvae—could soon be ground down and used as a protein-rich flour to make pasta and bread, or consumed whole in stir-frys and other recipes. The next steps involve getting marketing and labeling approvals

Does anyone else see this as kind of...Gross? ...To eat pasta or bread made of ground-up bugs?

Bugs are already a menu item in many places in the world. Lobster, crab, shrimp, crayfish. All of these are bugs.

 

[Revoltingest]

Bug eaters are evil.
I have proof!

 

[Father Heathen]

They'd be grossed out by some of the foods we eat.

In a many cases they would be right to. We Americans do eat a lot of things that we really shouldn't, as far as health is concerned.