Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has a policy on the introduction of insects into the human diet.

Defra does not have a specific policy on insects in the human diet, but continues to monitor the research in this area. In Great Britain, edible insects are considered novel foods. Novel foods require authorisation before they are permitted on the market. As part of the transition in leaving the EU, the following products can continue to be sold whilst they go through the British novel foods authorisation process run by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS):

• Yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor)
• House cricket (Acheta domesticus)
• Banded cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus)
• Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens)

Where the above are present, they would need to be included in labelling just like any other ingredient. No other insects can currently be sold for human consumption in Britain at present.