“Caution! The food contains insect protein!” – from Friday, such an inscription in Hungarian must appear next to the product composition on every food product containing such protein. The regulation was introduced by the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture to “protect” local consumers from food containing proteins of insect origin.
Hungary means food. Government: EU initiative threatens our gastronomic traditions
“With this measure, the government wants to protect Hungarian consumers from foodstuffs containing insect protein approved by Brussels in the European Union,” said Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy, quoted by the newspaper “”. He reminded that, as the only EU member, they did not support the initiative of admitting food containing insect protein to the common consumer market.
István Nagy assessed that the EU initiative “endangers our gastronomic traditions and eating habits”. “Hungarian farmers have always provided Hungarians with fresh, high-quality food made from the best ingredients,” he said.
According to the regulations adopted by the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, producers will not be penalized for missing or incorrect labeling for a three-month transitional period. The new label regulation does not apply to insect additives, which have so far been widely used in the food industry.
We’re going to eat worms and ban meat? “It’s all a misinterpretation”
In January, the European Commission approved the marketing of two new insects – the larvae of the black beetle (Alphitobius diaperinus) in the form of dried, paste or powder and defatted powder from the house cricket. The former are already used to make, for example, burgers or bars, whose producers pay attention to the very high content of protein, iron or “good” fat. Crickets are eaten whole, such as roasted, and also in the form of a meal that can be added to pasta, cookies and other products to increase the protein content.
In February, “” described the 2019 report of scientists prepared for the C40 Cities organization. It is a global coalition of cities to fight global warming, which includes, among others, Warsaw. After this publication, a scandal broke out about the alleged “ban on eating meat”. Some media and right-wing politicians began to claim that they wanted to force us to eat insects and give up meat. Of course, there is not an iota of truth in this – no one is forcing us to eat insects, and there are no plans to ban meat.
– There is no plausible idea of banning meat. It’s all an over-interpretation that is deliberately used in order to get the message that they want to ban us from eating meat and we will only be left with – , ecological educator and author of books m. “Less meat” and “I cook, I don’t waste.”
– How would this be possible in practice? State officials would check how much of this meat someone ate, would there be meat ration cards? the ecological educator asked rhetorically. – The point is that there should be less meat, and this is where the discussion should start – she emphasized.
Source: Gazeta
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