About - insects as food
The Association provides support, referral and advocacy for individuals and company’s who are engaged in or interested in, working with insects as a product, or farming insects for sale as a protein for human consumption.
The insect for food steering committee is a sub committee within the Association. It is currently investigating relevant issues and policy needs of the sector and continues to provide insight and support to members in this area. The committee has the following standard recommendations:
IMPORTING
When importing insects for either human consumption or animal feed, the insects must be dead and heat treated. The Department of Agriculture Water and Resources (DAWR) is responsible for regulating the import of food into Australia and assesses each application on a case-by-case basis. The main requirements are:
Insect species are not listed on the CITES list of endangered species http://checklist.cites.org/
Insects have undergone heat treatment with supporting documentation. DAWR may require additional information on an import declaration, together with the import permit. The Biosecurity Import Conditions System (BICON) houses the Australian Government's Biosecurity import conditions database for more than 20,000 plants, animals, minerals and biological products. BICON helps to determine what import conditions exist and if an import permit is required. For more information, visit DAWR’s Importing to Australia page at https://bicon.agriculture.gov.au/Bico nWeb4.0/
PEST SPECIES
Certain insect species are declared as pests in various states across Australia. Insect farmers producing for entomophagy must obtain written approval from their state or territory relevant Primary Industries and Biosecurity regulator for each proposed live insect species. This is subject to regulations under the Biosecurity Act 2015. A species list (including common name and scientific name) must be provided for approval prior to rearing or processing insects.
FOOD SAFETY
The Food Standards Australia & New Zealand (FSANZ) Advisory Committee on Novel Foods (ACNF) has undertaken an assessment of three insect species for human consumption, as published in the FSANZ Record of Views:
Zophobas morio (super mealworm)
Achaeta domestica (house crickets)
Tenebrio molitor (mealworm beetle). These insect species were assessed and categorised as non-traditional and not novel foods in Australia and New Zealand. There were no safety concerns for human consumption.
Good Rearing Practices
Insect rearing must be undertaken in a closed environment where ventilation, lighting, temperature and humidity can be controlled. The insect rearing facility must be sealed and have adequate systems in place to prevent entry of pests and the escape of insects.
Water and feed supply must be controlled according to the needs of the insects being reared. Feeding times and feed provided must be recorded and retained on the premises. Records of substrates used for growing insects must be kept.
Hygienic Practice
Insects like other animals can carry disease. Therefore, it is important that cleaning schedules and hygienic practices are in place throughout the chain (i.e. rearing, processing, packaging and transport). It is important to prevent cross contamination from air, soil and other sources, and to ensure insect frass is removed from containment areas on a regular basis. Any business processing food for human consumption must comply with Standards 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code).
Effective Processing
Insects may contain pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses or fungi. Insects must undergo validated processing steps to safely reduce their microbial content. This can be achieved by the application of cold (freezing) as part of the slaughter process, and heat including blanching, roasting, microwaving or cooking as part of processing for consumption.
Labelling
On 1 July 2018, the country of origin labelling requirements according Australian Consumer Law Standard come into effect. From 1 July, 2018 all insect products sold in Australia must comply by this code, and clearly label whether the food was grown, produced, made in, or packaged in Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission determines the accurate labelling of Australian content in food as:
'If a food is grown, produced, made or packed in Australia, its country of origin labelling must (unless stated otherwise) disclose the proportion of Australian content in the product. This requirement is optional for all other food, including food made or packed overseas with up to 100 per cent Australian content. ‘Australian content’ means ingredients or parts of compound ingredients that were exclusively grown or produced in Australia. Determining the percentage of Australian ingredients in a food will be a straightforward task for single ingredient foods grown or produced in Australia, or food that is made in Australia using exclusively Australian content. However, this task may be more complicated for foods that are made or packed in Australia or overseas using both Australian and non-Australian ingredients. Where a business cannot identify the percentage of Australian ingredients used in a food, they will be unable to claim that that food contains Australian content.’
Due to the possible presence of allergenic proteins or proteins cross-reacting with allergens, the label must indicate the presence of insect protein and the risk of it causing an allergic reaction. The presence of chitin may have an effect on people who are sensitive to shellfish products. Both chitin and shellfish warning statements must be present on the label to ensure consumers are aware of the risks.
All warning statements and declarations must be made in accordance with Standard 1.2.3 of the Code. For more information on food processing or labelling requirements visit www.foodstandards.gov.au/