IPIFF President Adriana Casillas highlighted the European Union authorisation of insect proteins in poultry and pig feed as ‘one of the major milestones of the IPIFF association since its establishment’.
The International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF), the umbrella association of the European insect sector, welcomed the recent authorisation of insect processed animal proteins (PAPs) in poultry and pig nutrition together with relevant agri-food stakeholders active at European level. In a webinar organised last week, IPIFF President Adriana Casillas labelled this achievement as ‘one of the major milestones of the IPIFF association since its establishment’.
An overview of the regulatory background and implications of this authorisation was presented by Fabien Schneegans, who underlined that safety and science had been the main drivers of the reform. “This authorisation is fully aligned with recent opinions delivered by the European Food Safety Authority and entails stringent control measures at national level”, explained Schneegans. “The continuation of the efforts engaged by the insect sector to meeting the highest safety standards is also paramount”, added the DG SANTE officer.
Representatives of two of the main livestock markets from the EU (i.e. poultry and pig) also praised the recent Commission Regulation. Speaking on behalf of the European farming and agri-cooperatives’ organisation (Copa-Cogeca), António Tavares hailed this authorisation, as it offers new opportunities for supplying European farmers with protein-rich materials that are particularly suited to monogastric diets. This opinion was echoed by the representative of the European poultry meat sector (AVEC), Paul-Henri Lava, who highlighted the great interest of European poultry meat producers to look into alternatives to the use of soy that could be associated with deforestation in poultry feed ration.
Christophe Trespeuch, the Chair of the IPIFF Working Group on Feed Safety and Animal Nutrition, also underlined the importance of this move. “This recent authorisation should be instrumental in accelerating the economic expansion of our sector and in responding to the feed supply needs and sustainability challenges being faced by our food chain partners. In that context, we are engaged in numerous partnerships with livestock farmers, feed manufacturers and academia in order to maximise the contribution of insect farming to the EU Farm to Fork objectives, and notably to fully exploit the nutritional, functional, and environmental benefits associated with insect products”, complemented Trespeuch.
Providing the closing remarks in this webinar, the Secretary-General of IPIFF, Christophe Derrien, echoed the opening words of the IPIFF President, mentioning that “this ‘green light’ at EU level motivates the association to work harder on providing local and sustainable solutions that are aligned with European farmers’ needs”.
