insect flours, here’s what happens. «The Government intends to protect consumers by preventing these new foods based on cricket, locust and other insect flour from being ingested unknowingly. For this reason it has prepared clear labeling which prevents misleading information on the nature and origin of these flours». Thus the Minister of Health, Horace Schillaciduring the press conference at the Ministry of Agriculture in which the decrees providing for clear and mandatory labeling for products containing insect meal were presented, signed jointly by the ministries of Agriculture, Health and Made in Italy and with the Conference of the Regions.
The approved novel foods, and among these insect flours, added Schillaci, «even if they are not in themselves harmful to health, they are certainly not in line with our agro-food culture and with the paradigm of our Mediterranean diet Italian. I am convinced that the Italian and European consumer, if appropriately and correctly informed, will certainly privilege our quality products guaranteed by the extremely widespread food safety control chain throughout the national territory».
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“The Italian regions have made a decisive contribution to implementing these decrees which will be notified to the European Commission. This work took place in an extraordinarily rapid time and is a demonstration of the fact that the government is cohesive and works in collaboration with the regions for the protection of Italian specificity and Made in Italy”. This was stated by the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso. At the basis of the provisions, signed today, there is “the principle of transparency on which the ability to choose of consumers is based, who must know how a product was made, where it comes from and what it is made with” in order to “be free to use or not a product”. The unanimity with which this result was reached, he concluded, “shows that it is the right way to protect our Mediterranean diet, which is among the excellences of Made in Italy in the world”.
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«Today 4 decrees were signed concerning 4 different flours deriving from insects, i.e. foods not traditionally present in the diet. One can feed on what is considered most suitable» but «as regards cricket flour, migratory locust, mealworm and gilla larva, we think a label is needed that specifies in a timely and visible way which products derive from these insects”. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida in a joint press conference together with the Minister of Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, and of Health, Orazio Schillaci. This means that the origin of the product will be clearly specified in supermarkets.