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The EU Commission regulates mealworm powder as a novel food, allowing its use in various products, with labeling requirements for vitamin D content. The Commission grants exclusive authorization to the applicant for 5 years, despite limited research on potential allergens, and recommends further study.

⚖🇪🇺 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/89 of 20 January 2025 authorising the placing on the market of ultraviolet radiation-treated powder of whole larvae of Tenebrio molitor (mealworm) as a novel food in the region

3. [...] The applicant requested that UV-treated powder from whole larvae of Tenebrio molitor be used in breads and rolls, biscuits and pastries, pasta products, processed potato products, cheese and derived products, and fruit or vegetable compotes, intended for the general population.

7. In its scientific opinion, the Authority concluded that UV-treated powder from whole larvae of Tenebrio molitor is safe under the proposed conditions and at the proposed levels of use. Therefore, that scientific opinion provides sufficient grounds to determine that UV-treated powder of whole larvae of Tenebrio molitor [...]

8. [...] the name of the novel food should be accompanied by the statement "contains vitamin D produced by UV treatment" and the nutritional declaration should include the amount of vitamin D.

9. Based on a limited number of published evidence on food allergies related to the consumption of UV-treated larvae [...] containing a set of potentially allergenic proteins, the Authority concluded in its opinion that consumption of the novel food may also cause sensitisation to larval proteins. The Authority therefore recommended further research into the allergenicity of these larvae.

10. In order to respond to the Authority's recommendation, the Commission is currently considering how to carry out the necessary research on the allergenicity of larvae [...] since the evidence directly linking the consumption of larvae to cases of primary sensitisation and allergies is limited, the Commission considers that, in the conditions of use of the novel food, no specific labelling requirements should be included in relation to the potential of UV-treated powder of whole larvae to cause primary sensitisation.

14. The applicant declared that it had proprietary rights and exclusive rights to refer to the scientific studies and data concerning the detailed description of the production process and the detailed results of the compositional analyses, in accordance with national legislation, at the time of submitting the application, and that no third party may legally access, use or refer to those data and studies.

15. The Commission assessed all the information provided by the applicant and considered that the applicant had sufficiently justified compliance with the requirements laid down [...] the authorisation to place UV-treated powder obtained from whole larvae on the market in the European Union should be granted to the applicant on an exclusive basis for a period of five years from the entry into force of this Regulation.

17. UV-treated powder obtained from whole larvae of Tenebrio molitor should be included in the Union list of novel foods set out in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470.

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