Qatar, a predominantly Muslim Gulf state, on Thursday reaffirmed its religious ban on eating insects after the European Union approved a new insect for consumption in early January, Barrons and Agerpres reported.

Insect-based products do not meet the “requirements of the Halal food technical standards” permitted for Muslims, Qatar’s health ministry said in a press release.

Gulf Cooperation Council regulations and “recommendations of competent authorities prohibit the consumption of insects or proteins and additives extracted from insects,” the statement also said. The same document stated that the announcement came as a result of “the decision of some countries to approve the use of insects in food production”.

Qatar’s Ministry of Health did not say which country it was referring to, but in early January the European Commission approved a new feed, namely dung beetle larvae, after EFSA added the insect species to the list of suitable ones. commercialization and human consumption.

It is the fourth permitted edible insect after the house cricket (Acheta domesticus), the mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) and the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria).

Dung beetle larvae can be eaten frozen, dried or ground.

Controversies in the Islamic religion about eating insects

According to Muslim theologians, the Islamic religion does not explicitly forbid eating insects. Most of them believe that the locust is halal or permissible because it is mentioned in the Koran, but many Muslim theologians reject other insects because they are considered impure.

Qatar’s Ministry of Health said in a statement that “the degree of compliance of the food products with Halal regulations has been verified by Islamic bodies accredited by the Ministry and internationally accredited laboratories.”

In Romania, the Minister of Agriculture, Petre Daea, reacted violently to the fact that the European Commission approved a new insect for consumption, namely the dung beetle larva.

“Keep them in the permits, but don’t put them in the food, don’t put them on the plate, because we know what we produce, we know what we eat, we know what’s good for us. From this point of view I am not worried, approval does not mean food either, because we know how to produce in Romania and we have, thank God, where, with whom and what to do (…). Leave the insects in the insect box,” he declared.

On the same topic:

• What if you tasted it without knowing it? What biologists and entrepreneurs say about the crickets that Daea wants to protect from Romanians, and the European Commission recommends that we eat them