Singapore approves 16 insect species as food, including grasshoppers, silkworms, crickets

South China Morning Post ^ | JULY 9, 2024 | Staff

[Red Badger]

The Singapore Food Agency said ‘these insects and insect products can be used for human consumption or as animal feed for food-producing animals’

A young girl eating a fried grasshopper. Singapore on Monday approved grasshoppers, and 15 other insects as food. Photo: Shutterstock

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Sixteen species of insects, including crickets, locusts and silkworms, have been approved as food in Singapore, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said on Monday.

“With immediate effect, [the] SFA will allow the import of insects and insect products belonging to species that have been assessed to be of low regulatory concern,” the agency said in a circular addressed to processed food and animal feed traders. “These insects and insect products can be used for human consumption or as animal feed for food-producing animals.”

The 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 would receive the green light for consumption in the second half of 2023, but the decision was pushed back.

Earlier this year, the SFA, said it was finalising the implementation details and aimed to introduce a regulatory framework in the first half of this year.

In late June, sources such as restaurants and potential farms said that the approval was imminent.

[RayChuang88]

It’s mostly a snack food. It would require so many insects to make enough food protein as a primary source that wiping out the local insect population is a potentially real issue, something I think even the WEF has to quietly admit.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Wow! Just imagine: Now there will be the.....”Simply contribute $19 per month to save the ( one at a time, ) crickets, then silkworms, then grasshoppers then whatever
advertisements of “Save” suit their fancy with the usual suspects of so-called, ‘celebrities’ hawking whichever!”

[Red Badger]

.........It’s mostly a snack food...........

A business opportunity!.................

[butlerweave]

mycotoxins and fungi in insects but they must do further research so it’s OK if people die while they research it ,LOL

[NewHampshireDuo]

Oh for the good old days when you could get monkey brain in Singapore.

[Red Badger]

Ran out of monkeys....................

[Salman]

For people who don't want to eat insects, they also have scorpions, spiders, and centipedes. /snicker

[Thorium90]

“You will eat ze bugs” - Claus Schwab

[nwrep]

Even down there they still rely on domesticated cows, pigs and chicken for their protein.

Those are European imports, not native.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

silkworms

Reminds me of an old Porky Pig cartoon from 1938, Porky’s Party. “Porky’s birthday. His uncle sends him a silkworm that churns out articles of clothing when it hears the word “sew.” After a sock and a bra, Porky stuffs it in a pocket to prepare for his party....”

[metmom]

Nope.

Still not eating bugs.

[PIF]

Its only natural, with all the solar and wind farms killing off insect-eating birds and bats, that humans take up the slack.

[Ignatz]

Approved today, mandatory tomorrow.

[cgbg]

Next up—Soylent Green.

[GenXPolymath]

Yawn...anyone who has spent time in Asia knows they already eat bugs in massive amounts and have for thousands of years. Go to any market in Thailand or Vietnam and you will see dozens of species for sale it’s as common as rice over there. I do love all the tinfoil qtard quackery with the eat ze bugs meme. Asians love them some bugs, bats ,rats , cats and dogs too. All eaten on the regular and with zero fanfare.

[GenXPolymath]

In Mexico grasshoppers are called chapulines and they are served in tacos and tostadas everywhere. There are some high end Mexican restaurants in Austin and Miami that sell those same tacos for $8 each and they sell out all the time. I can think of at least four trendy food trucks in downtown Austin that also sell chapulines for $5 each and they sell out every day. One also does chocolate covered chapulines as a sweet snack. Latin America, Asia and Africa all eat insects and don’t even shrug a shoulder over it. It’s boomer Americans who get all in a tissy travel more see the world you can afford it. It’s a big beautiful world out there.