Are insects novel foods?

An Enlightenment on the Scope of Regulation (EC) no 258/97 after the Judgment of the Court in Case C-526/19 Stating whether whole insects were novel foods or not, under the Regulation (EC) no 258/97, is an issue that EU Member States, food lawyers, and scholars have been debating over the last years, even after the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. Applying the transitional measures that Article 35(2) of the new act authorises, requires the prior solution to such question. Called to provide an answer in Case C-526/19, the Court blindly adheres to the Opinion of Advocate General Bobek, in a judgment which betrays an inconsistent approach with regards to the previous rulings on the scope of the Regulation, in particular in Case C-448/14. Though sharing the outcome of the judicial reasoning, this paper will focus on the main conceptual steps of the Court’s (better, the Advocate General’s) argument, and on the points which could give rise to criticism.