One of the parties that makes up Poland’s conservative government has proposed an “anti-bug law” that would require food products containing insects to be labelled with a special warning.
The proposal comes amid a recent campaign by the ruling coalition and its associated media in which they have claimed that if opposition parties win power at this year’s elections they will seek to restrict traditional meat consumption and make Poles eat insects instead. The opposition has announced no such plans.
Każdy produkt spożywczy z tzw. dodatkami robaczanymi, powinien być oznaczony. pic.twitter.com/ebO8koX7wf
— Solidarna Polska (@SolidarnaPL) April 6, 2023
“Dried mealworm larvae, powdered cricket – these are among the insects that the eurocrats and Rafał Trzaskowski [the opposition mayor of Warsaw] call new food,” said Janusz Kowalski, a deputy agriculture minister, while unveiling the plans in parliament yesterday.
“That is why we, United Poland [Solidarna Polska], have initiated the preparation of legal regulations, following the examples of Hungary and Italy, that will give Polish consumers clear knowledge about food products containing so-called bug additives,” he continued. “This is an anti-bug law.”
United Poland is a hardline, eurosceptic junior partner to the main ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Its leader, Zbigniew Ziobro, is justice minister. Under its proposed law, products would have to include a label on their packaging saying: “Warning, this food product contains insect protein.”
“If Rafał Trzaskowski wants to eat mazurek [a traditional Polish Easter cake] make of dried insects, he has the right to do so,” added Kowalski. “We, as conservatives, as Poles, definitely prefer normal Polish food, Polish meat, Polish dairy products.”
Polish farmers have backed a proposal for the EU to ban meat-like names – such as "burger" or "sausage" – for vegetarian products. They say it misleads consumers and threatens cultural heritage.
The European Parliament will vote on the amendment this week https://t.co/vwvrJzIxBJ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 18, 2020
In January this year, the European Commission approved products made from mealworm larvae and house crickets as safe for consumption. They were not the first insect products approved by Brussels, and the commission emphasised at the time that “nobody will be forced to eat insects”.
Nevertheless, many conservatives in Poland and elsewhere in Europe saw it as part of a push to undermine traditional culinary cultures, especially meat consumption.
Soon after, further controversy was sparked in Poland when the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna newspaper wrote about a report from a group called C40 Cities that recommended cutting meat consumption as part of efforts to reduce emissions.
Warsaw is a member of the C40 group and its mayor, Trzaskowski, has attended and spoken at the organisation’s events. Politicians and media linked with the ruling camp therefore conflated the EU and C40 stories to claim that the Polish opposition want to restrict or ban traditional meat and replace it with insects.
"The opposition want Poles to eat worms," headlined the main evening news on Polish state TV, a government mouthpiece.
The report showed no examples of the opposition wanting Poles to eat worms (because none exist) pic.twitter.com/2vwxOaPBgP
— Daniel Tilles (@danieltilles1) February 20, 2023
In response, Trzaskowski repeatedly made clear that he has no intention of introducing any restrictions on meat consumption in Warsaw. “Please enjoy steaks to your heart’s content,” he tweeted. Other opposition figures also rejected the idea.
A survey conducted by Ipsos and published this week by media outlets OKO.press and TOK FM, however, suggests that the ruling coalition’s campaigning on this issue has had an effect.
Among PiS supporters, 45% say they believe the opposition could introduce restrictions on Poles’ meat consumption if it wins power. By contrast, only 5% of supporters of the main opposition group, Civic Coalition (KO), in which Trzaskowski is a leading figure, believe this.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
