Good news guys, UK companies will soon be free to start producing and selling several species of "edible insects" again.
Apparently, one effect of Brexit is that the UK no longer belonged to the European Union's "novel foods" programme, which approved many varieties of insects for human consumption.
Because of this the farming and selling of insects as food has been essentially banned in the UK for years.
The BBC had a report about this a few days ago, bemoaning the impact on the UK's edible insect industry, and headlined:
Has Brexit squashed our edible insect industry?The blurb goes on to repeat the all-too-familiar pro-bug eating propaganda, and suggests there could a "revival":
Bugs - the superfood that doesn't cost the earth. They're higher in protein than meat and release far lower CO2 emissions than livestock farming. So experts tell us that, if we want to save the planet, we should eat more insects. However, selling insects as food in the UK was essentially banned following Brexit, leaving the insect industry in limbo. But could there now be a revival?The "revival" has been in the works for at least a few weeks. Last month the UK government launched a "consultation" on the legal status of edible insects, according to the Food Standard's Agency website:
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has set out plans to allow edible insects to remain on the market while they go through the Novel Foods authorisation process to assess their safety.This means you can now legally farm and sell edible insects in the UK, despite there being no formal legal approval or even an "assessment of their safety".
Comment: Add this to a long and sad list of individuals and people from all ages and walks of life who have had their lives tragically cut short by cardiac arrest and a host of other ailments that have come on suddenly and fatally: