Crunch time for insects

Science on the Menu: A Food Safety Podcast by EFSA

European Food Safety Authority

Science, Health & Fitness, Government, Nutrition

0.0 • 0 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2023

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What’s your idea of a tasty snack? Fruit, biscuits, bread and jam perhaps? What would you say if you were offered something more adventurous – fried crickets or grasshoppers? Popular in some countries such as Thailand and Mexico, they are often eaten with chili and lime. In Europe, reactions are mixed! Our expert Ermolaos Ververis explains how EFSA’s novel foods team assesses whether foods such as insects are safe, and he makes us rethink what we know as staple foods in Europe. Come join us for this episode of Science on the Menu, where we even put these questions to the test.

Your opinion matters! Please take this brief survey to share your thoughts on our podcast.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Science on the menu, a podcast by the European Food Safety Authority.
0:19.5	Hello and welcome to you all for this very special episode of EFSA's podcast series, Science on the Menu.
0:27.3	Today, in fact, we're going to be talking about something rather unusual on our menus, and that is insects.
0:34.3	Maybe your idea of a tasty snack is a piece of fruit or some biscuits or a couple of slices of toast and jam.
0:41.3	But what would you say if you were offered something a bit more adventurous?
0:45.3	Fried crickets or grasshoppers, for example, which are popular in Thailand and Mexico where they're prepared with special sources or chili and lime.
0:55.2	Well, we're going to explore what eating insects is all about today
0:58.9	and also talk about how we at EFSA are involved with this issue.
1:17.0	So let's begin and joining me in the studio today to shed some light on this subject is one of Efs's novel food experts, Ermalauz Veris.
1:21.9	Ermalaus, a very warm welcome to you and how are you doing?
1:24.7	Hello, James.
1:25.3	Thank you a lot for having here.
1:27.1	I'm very excited actually to
1:28.2	talk about this topic today. Good. Well, we're very excited to have you here as well. Actually,
1:33.7	before we begin, I should just say to our listeners. So those of you who stay with us for the
1:40.5	duration of this podcast will be rewarded with a surprise at the end.
1:45.0	And I'm not going to give away too much more for the time being, but do stay with us to find out
1:50.3	what that means. Okay, so Amelaus, let's begin at the beginning, so to speak. And when we talk
1:57.6	about insects, we talk about insects as a novel food. So maybe we just, we clarify for our listeners, what we mean by novel foods.
2:07.3	Sir, let me ask you, actually, what does it come to your mind when you hear the word novel?
2:14.9	A novel, for me, well, new.
2:17.2	Correct. Novel can well, new. Correct.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from European Food Safety Authority, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of European Food Safety Authority and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.