Fancy some crispy crickets on sushi rolls? Singapore to approve insects for food as early as July: Sources
SINGAPORE: From glutinous rice balls crowned with juicy silkworms to crispy crickets sitting on sushi rolls, diners here may soon get to feast on creepy crawlies in dining establishments.
Singapore could be allowing the sale of certain insects as food as early as next month, restaurants and potential farms which have been informed of the latest development told CNA.
The approvals for the sale of insects for human consumption have been delayed for more than a year.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) first conducted a public consultation on the regulation of insects and insect products in end-2022. In April last year, the agency said that 16 species of insects, such as crickets, silkworms and grasshoppers, would receive the green light for consumption in the second half of 2023.
Earlier this year, SFA, in a forum letter reply in The Straits Times, said it is finalising the implementation details and aims to introduce a regulatory framework in the first half of this year.
“As the insect industry is nascent and insects are a new food item here, it is necessary for SFA to put in place the regulatory levers before insects are approved as food to safeguard food safety, and more time is needed to establish the required regulations and implementation plan,” the letter added.
“We will work closely with food business operators to ensure that they are able to meet SFA’s regulatory requirements before insects and insect products are permitted for sale as food for human consumption in Singapore.”
CNA understands that legislation is also likely to be tabled in parliament soon.
ENSURING INSECTS ARE SAFE FOR CONSUMPTION
Meanwhile, at restaurant House of Seafood, chefs are getting used to working with bugs as ingredients and ensuring they are safe to eat.
House of Seafood CEO Francis Ng said this involves thorough cleaning.
“(The first step for our chefs is to) do a cleaning, after that they will toast them in the oven,” he added. “(A small little brush would be used) to clean piece by piece.”
Some of these hygiene protocols follow a set of interim guidelines for handling and rearing insects for food, which was first published in 2022 when the government first mooted the idea of allowing insects as food.
Insect suppliers said they have been briefed by the SFA.
“In the past few days, we have engaged with them as well, and they told us that it will happen very soon,” said Mr Hiew Yuen Sheng, director and co-founder of Altimate Nutrition, a local start-up creating food products from insects.
“They told us in the past few days that it's going to happen, like rest assured and no more delays.”
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SOME FARMS HAVE CLOSED DUE TO DELAYS
This comes amid growing frustrations among businesses looking to sell insects as food. At least two insect farms have closed due to the long wait for approvals.
“If you are looking at it as a business model, firstly it has to be cost effective,” said Mr Hiew. “Secondly, you need to have a demand for it. And right now, if you were to have a farm in Singapore but you haven’t driven up the demand yet, then it would not make sense.”
Altimate Nutrition is working with two farms in Thailand to rear crickets and silkworms.
It has been informed that the new rules will require overseas farms to meet industrial food safety standards and certification from local authorities there.
Mr Hiew said this would look at how the insects are reared, bred, harvested, and even processed.
“Some of these processes are looked into and at different application points, like the end-product, like the powder itself, or the roasted crickets will be tested for its nutritional information,” he added.
Singapore farms will be required to apply for licences. Approvals could take from two weeks to a month, a timeframe mentioned when authorities consulted the industry.
Mr Aaron Chen, who has been running insect farm Werms.Inc for the past four years, welcomed the new development.
The firm now breeds insects for animals and pets, but humans could be its next market.
“The methodology and the knowledge to breed these insects are still the same,” said Mr Chen, the company's co-founder and managing partner.
“Our food sources, our supply for these insects are still the same. It's just that it will be a different environment, different setting, and different licenses.”
The farming of insects for human food and for animal feed has been promoted by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization for their benefits as a sustainable form of protein.
The European Union and countries like Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand have also allowed the consumption of certain insect species that tick several boxes for nutrition.
Crickets, grasshoppers and mealworms, for instance, are rich in protein. These insects also contain plenty of antioxidants and minerals including iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium.
INSECTS MAY CARRY COMMON GERMS: EXPERT
Stringent protocols will be in place to ensure the insects are safe for consumption, including the need for them to be farmed in a controlled environment and not harvested from the wild to prevent introduction of diseases, contaminants, and parasites.
The substrate, or what the insects live on and use as food, must not impart contaminants to the insects. For example, the use of manure and rotten food is not allowed.
At least one expert told CNA that insects may carry common germs such as salmonella or E-coli that can cause food poisoning, if they are improperly stored or processed.
But Assistant Professor Nalini Puniamoorthy of the National University of Singapore's Department of Biological Sciences noted that insects are also “quite evolutionarily diverged from us”.
Diseases that affect insects may not directly transmit that easily to humans, she added.
“The key point is, of course, safety. If (insects) are reared in proper environments, if (farms) follow the regulations, then the risks are much smaller.”
The regulations for places working with crickets could be different from those working with superworms or black soldier flies, she pointed out.
“It's often tailored to the species that you're dealing with. And the regulations have to be tailored to the city or the environment where they are being bred or where they're being farmed.”
Mr Chen said scaling up can be done easily as insect numbers can multiply quickly.
However, the challenge lies in getting the space and labour, as not everyone may want a job handling creepy crawlies.
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