The EU Commission has voted to allow insect-derived protein as aquaculture feed.
Existing legislation – Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, or the ‘TSE Regulation’, created to prevent the transmission of diseases like CJD and BSE – banned the use of processed animal proteins (PAPs) to feed animals, including fish.
An amendment to the regulation, approved by the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF), will remove the final barrier to using insects in fish feed in the EU – the need for non-ruminant animals to be used in PAPs to be slaughtered in registered EU slaughterhouses – meaning that insect proteins could be used as fish feed from July 2017.
