Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential risk of diseases spreading to wild (a) insects and (b) other animals from insects farmed for use as (i) food and (ii) animal feed.

We remain vigilant to changes in production systems and continue to use our established systems to monitor for new and emerging animal health risks through our Veterinary Risk Group and Animal Disease Policy Group.

The Food Standards Agency has commissioned a comprehensive review of the safety of several currently non permitted substrates that could potentially be used to rear insect larvae for protein in animal feeds. The research project is gathering chemical and microbiological safety data relating to the substrates, the larvae and the residual rearing substrate material (frass).