There are hoaxes that come back to visit us cyclically. Among these, some have now reached the status of great classics, such as chemtrails or the non-existent moon landing.
In more recent times, a mixture of misinformation and the desire to be the spokesperson for sensational news has created a lot of fuss (and the spread of many falsehoods) about insect flours. We dealt with it, precisely in this column, in February 2023.
And now the bugaboo is among us again, because it seems that bread with insect flour is on display on the shelves of Conad supermarkets. Let’s find out more about this news, and see if it contains at least a grain of truth.
Bread with insect flour?
An apparently unmistakable image has been circulating on social media. It is a Conad brand product, which right under the company sign says in large letters: “Soft bread with organic insect flour”.
Open up heaven. Users of Facebook, An example: “Conad, Lidl and Coop have embraced the European Union’s cause for the promotion of cricket flour. Boycott this rubbish in any way, first of all by not going shopping with them.” So?
The retouched image
So there is no soft Conad bread with organic insect flour. As always, to discover the truth it is enough to take a deep breath and rely on rationality.
In this way, you would notice two rough elements in the image reworked in a not too professional way. On the left, you can read, in three different columns, the letters “e”, “na”, and “le”. They are the last letters of the authentic writing present in the package, namely: “Soft bread with wholemeal flour”. Soft bread which, as can easily be seen on the Conad website page dedicated to the product, does not contain insect flour.
But there’s more: the counterfeit writing is leaking from all sides. For the last two words, “organic insects”, a narrower font was used than that of the previous ones. Two other elements confirm that it is a false addition: the bottom line is inclined downwards and extends excessively towards the right.
Let’s add a consideration: if insect flour had also been present in Conad bread, what sense would there have been in calling the product “Soft bread with organic insect flour”, as if that had been the main attraction of the food, and not just one of its ingredients?
Insect flours in Italy
The hoaxes about the presence of insect flour in food have had a second youth since 29 December 2023, when the Official Journal published four decrees issued by the Ministry of Agriculture on the regulation and distribution of foods that contain insect flour.
The initial green light for these flours was given by the European Union, but then Italy introduced some restrictions. In practice, in our country it is possible to produce and display some types of food with flours coming from four types of insects: cricket, Alphitobius diaperinus (larvae), Tenebrio molitor (moths) and migratory locust.
Furthermore, European legislation already requires that the presence of insect flour be clearly reported, due to the allergies it could trigger. But in Italy a further measure has been added: foods with these flours must be placed in separate compartments in shops and supermarkets. And they must be clearly indicated by signs.
Insects, emotions and common sense
Consumers are not required to know the community and national legislation on insect flours inside out. But they would certainly be required to inform themselves and reflect before embarking on boycott campaigns against certain products.
Ultimately, the concept is always the same: when faced with apparently sensational news coming from social media, we have two options. The first is to get emotionally overwhelmedtake it as true and become the spokesperson for its diffusion ourselves, without asking ourselves anything about its plausibility. The second is to verifyand perhaps even before asking ourselves why a possible scoop was not made known by newspapers and TV news, but only by unknown sites or even by private users.
But the reason, the conspiracy theorists would reply, is that the Powers That Be have every interest in hiding the truth.
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