Here is a short outlook about laws regarding edible insects. We foucus ourselfes on ITALY.
Now a days, Italy, has a tolerance close to zero, slowly changing.
Germany has become very tolerant in 2018 and some bug products are in supermarkets since then. The European Commission (EC) has developed an e-submission system for Novel Food applications.
The timeframe in an hypothetical “ standard” case (where no additional information is requested) should be as follow:
– 1 month (European Commission, for a formal check)
– 30 working days (at the Food Authority, if a technical preliminary verification is needed)
– 9 months (at the Food Authority, for validation of all the data)
– 7 months (at the European Commission, for the draft implementing act)
TOTAL: 1 year and a half.
This timeframe is hypothetical. The new Novel Food law is in place since January 2018, as of December 2018 no insect applications has made it to the final phase, so there are no precedents to refer to in terms of timeline. Once a species is approved, all the products containing it can be marketed in all the EU country. In other words, once the food (for example, the house cricket) is approved, it is for everyone’s benefit, including the producers and importers.