More than one in three Slovaks believe in EU insect mandate

More than one in three Slovaks believe Brussels is endangering public health by ordering insect protein be added to food without consumers knowing, despite the European Commission’s attempts to debunk the hoax, a new study has found.

The Ipsos study conducted for the Central European Digital Media Observatory also looked into other conspiracy theories, finding that 37% of Slovaks believe their president consulted members of the new technocratic government with the US embassy, and 53% believe election fraud is “highly possible”.

Regarding the debunked EU insect mandate, 36% believe in Brussels’ plans to force companies to put insects in the food they produce, with far-right and nationalist voters among those who believed the hoax most.

“The same survey proved that people trust various, often unconnected disinformation in bulk. This is caused by high trust in so-called alternative media and strong support of political parties which are known for supporting, sharing and even creating fake news,“ comment authors of the study in a statement provided to EURACTIV Slovakia.

“According to several recent surveys, compared to its neighbours, Slovaks are more pro-Russian and less pro-West and pro-EU, which is one of many factors that help anti-EU disinformation to be successful,“ Ipsos and the European agency also said.

The EU Commission already attempted to debunk the hoax in February, particularly after its decision in January to allow the sale of crickets and larvae for human consumption in powdered form had people speculating about insects being added to foods without peoples’ knowledge.

“It is up to consumers to decide for themselves whether they want to eat insects or not. It is nonsense that it would be added to food secretly,” the Commission’s Slovak representation wrote.

According to current EU rules, adding insect powder to products must be labelled appropriately and include information about possible allergic reactions for people allergic to crustaceans, molluscs, and dust mites.

The hoax is also believed in the neighbouring Czech Republic, where 30% of citizens believe in an insect mandate. At the recent conservative conference in Budapest, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš spoke of Brussels forcing citizens “to ride bicycles to work and eat bugs for dinner”.

(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)