Currently browsing posts about: Insects

I’m constantly being asked what food will look like in the future, so I’ve been collecting items about new-and-unusual foods headed our way.

Do these bode well for the future of food?  You decide.

New Foods

• New nutritional substitute? Donkey milk touted as potential ingredient for infant and ageing products: Researchers have argued that the rich and diverse content of proteins in donkey milk could promote cell growth and proliferation, stimulate the immune system, exert anti-ageing effects, and possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties…. Read more
• How can industry turn the tide on seaweed consumption?  In Europe, many consumers associated seaweed with the rotting, smelly kelp that washes up on beaches. How can industry cultivate consumer appetite for marine plants?… Read more
• Cactus cookies and banana peel snacks among foods of the future:  Several food products that were designed to regenerate the planet have been invited to the next stage of the Big Food Redesign Challenge…. Read more
• ‘Insects will be seen as normal food’: How industry is combatting consumer reluctance to eat insect protein:  Insects are not only thought to contain at least as much protein as conventional meat, but are also more environmentally sustainable. However, their novelty on the market poses challenges in consumer acceptance. How do start-ups persuade consumers to eat them?… Read more 
• Business Insider Starbucks launched a pork-flavored coffee in China:  The beverage, whose name translates into “Abundant Year Savory Latte,” is pictured with a slice of skewered pork perched on top of a mug.  .Read More

Cultivated meat

• Introducing meat–rice: grain with added muscles beefs up protein:  The laboratory-grown food uses rice as a scaffold for cultured meat…Using rice as the scaffold has the benefit of adding nutrition to the rice, with the beef–rice having a slightly higher fat and protein content than standard rice.
• Not halal just yet: Singapore Islamic Council says ‘more rigorous’ parameters must be fulfilled for cultivated meat to be halal-certified: The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) has highlighted that cultivated meat still needs to meet a ‘more rigorous’ set of requirements to be halal-certified, even though it has been deemed potentially permissible for halal consumption…. Read more

Comment: It’s a brave new world out there.  Two issues:  (1) Is this stuff delicious?  (2) Will it make money?  Stay tuned.

I like following what’s happening with insect foods, and much is.  Here are some recent examples from the press but also from academic journals.

• Tyson makes first move in insect protein sector:  Tyson Foods is working with insect-based protein producer Protix to build a Protix plant in the US to supply Tyson with insect larvae for use in feedstock and pet food for the first time while taking a minority stake in the Dutch company to support its global growth.  See stories in Bloomberg.  FoodNavigator.   Food Business News.
• Tyson’s insect bet will spur further adoption in the space, IFT says: Protein producers adopting bugs for use in animal feed provides a lower barrier for entry, potentially making it easier to introduce insects into consumer diets, experts say.
• Insect protein: From ridicule to laboratory-validated reality: In this month’s Food Forensics column, Alison Johnson discusses the food safety issues you will need to consider when dealing with insect protein. Read more
• Termites as Human Foods—A Comprehensive Review: This paper aims to share recent findings by covering edible termites as themain aspect, from their consumption record until consumer acceptance. Read More
• Consumption of edible insects and insect‐based foods: Low consumer acceptance of edible insects and insect-based products is one of the main barriers to the successful implementation of entomophagy in Western countries.Read More.
• Novel insect-based child nutrition: the position of the nutritional committee of the Italian society of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition (SIGENP). Based on the current knowledge, despite a possible ecological advantage, the group of expert suggests additional researches before pronouncing on a possible use for children diet, because of insufficient evidence on nutritional benefits and possible food allergies.

The idea of adding or substituting insects for other protein foods is a big deal these days, if you count the amount of venture capital going into insect food startups.

Here are a few of the latest things I’ve seen on the topic.  Enjoy!

• Edible Insects Crawl Into the Food Market Amid Growing Investment Based on Climate and Security Benefits:   More governments, large companies and investors are joining start-ups in the quest to deliver edible insects to the world’s dining tables.  Insects turn energy into protein more efficiently and with less environmental impact than livestock, but some critics raise concerns.
• Interest in eating insects can be increased, study shows:  At a time when meat consumption is increasingly being seen as unsustainable, eating insects is for many a comparatively better option. However, many people in the West find insects difficult to stomach. A new study shows that it is possible to increase people’s interest in insect consumption…. Read more
• Termites as human foods—A comprehensive review:  This paper aims to share recent findings by covering edible termites as the main aspect, from their consumption record until consumer acceptance.  Read More
• Could eating insects slow weight gain in people with obesity?  A new study suggests consuming insect protein slows weight gain and improves health status in obese mice. The findings are promising for humans, lead study author Kelly Swanson, interim director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, tells FoodNavigator…. Read more
• Insect-protein dog food producer in rapid growth mode:  Percuro, based in Europe, is investing in production capacity to keep up with its fast global sales growth. Read more

Here are three announcements I received this week.

I.  Pringles shoots for spider history.  The Kidney Garden Spider bears an uncanny resemblance to the Pringles logo – sparking a mission to get the arachnid community to officially recognise it as the Pringles Spider…. Read more

II.  Milk cows listening to music are more relaxed.  Musical enrichment of the environment was done using recorded-tape of flute and sitar was played in yamen raga at 40-60 (dB) decibel intensity.   [Thanks to Stephan van Vliet for this one].

III.  Dating for diet followers: The Filteroff dating app is hosting an online speed dating event for followers of the Paleo and Keto diets.  You can learn more about the speed dating event (and sign up if single) here.  [Thanks to Michelle Miller of Filteroff for the emailed invitation].

The New York Times has released three short videos about the food system in its “We’re Cooked” series about problems in the food system.

• Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet
• See the True Cost of Your Cheap Chicken
• What Insects Can Learn From Lobsters About Rebranding

Why controversial?  Here are three reactions:

I.  Aaron Smith, an ag professor at UC Davis says: “NYT Comes Out Swinging” 

The thesis of the video is that American agriculture now consists of a small number of large farms that exert political power to avoid environmental regulation while they rack up huge profits.

They got some things right. The agricultural lobby is very good at avoiding regulation and extracting money from taxpayers. There are serious environmental issues in agriculture, including greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution.

His column, illustrated with useful charts, is mostly about what the Times missed: the benefits of Big Ag.

II.  Civil Eats published an op-ed, also on what the videos did not do: The New York Times Took on the Food System. Here’s What They Missed.

III.  AndrewRdeC (@Andrew deCoriolis) Tweeted: My response in @nytimes to “True Cost of Cheap Chicken”:

Pasture-raised is the standard of animal welfare consumers expect—but the chicken industry doesn’t come close to meeting that expectation. Why would it, when it’s more profitable to humanewash?

Comment: I’m hoping the Times will do at least one more on what everyone can do—as individuals or groups—to create food systems that are healthier for eaters, farmers and farm workers, farm animals, and the planet.

FoodNavigator-USA, one of the newsletters I subscribe to, has a special edition on edible insects.  

If you want to know what the food insect industry and market look like these days, this is a great place to get the big buggy picture in a hurry:

• Edible insects in focus, part I: CPG 2nd wave focuses on benefits, not bugs… ‘It’s like taking Jell-O and saying, ‘Hey! we’ve got a bunch of ground up cow bones and sugar. You want some?’  Back in 2013/14, no food innovation conference was complete without at least one session promoting edible insects as the next big thing in ‘alternative protein.’ Since then, the field has become littered with the corpses of bug-fueled startups that ran out of cash or energy. But some have stuck around, some have pivoted to petfood or animal feed, and some exciting new players are now emerging on the scene…. Read more
• Edible insects in focus part II: Scale and automation… Aspire Food Group gears up to open world’s largest edible cricket processing facility  Aspire Food Group – which is on a mission to automate and professionalize edible insect farming – aims to start production at a CAD $90m 100,000sqft automated cricket processing facility near London, Ontario, in Q1/Q2 of next year that will produce 10,000 tons of crickets/year in phase one alone, a potential gamechanger in the human food and pet food arena, claims the firm…. Read more
• Edible insects in focus part III: Farming, from Mexico to Ontario to Israel… ‘At this point, if you’re still in business, you definitely know what you’re doing’  “We’ve seen people come and go in the edible insects space, but the people who are still around know what they’re doing,” observes Hector Jimenez at Nutrinsectos in Guadalajara Mexico, who – like many people in this nascent industry – first got the edible insects bug (excuse the pun) after reading a high-profile FAO report* in 2013…. Read more
• Edible Insects in focus part IV. Hargol FoodTech: Grasshoppers, gummies, and patience…Edible insects were always going to be a slow burn in the alternative protein market in Europe and North America, given the ‘ick’ factor and the lack of infrastructure to farm and process them at scale, says Israeli firm Hargol FoodTech. But while the human food market has moved at a frustratingly glacial pace, the industry is professionalizing (as many hobbyists give up), and there are emerging opportunities, particularly in new applications such as gummies and meat alternatives…. Read more
• Edible insects in focus part V. Gym-N-Eat Crickets: ‘My ideal customer is a woman with kids under 10’“  A lot of cricket protein products seem to be bars and powders targeted at 18-35 year old males that are into mountain biking,” observes Shelby Smith, founder of Iowa-based edible insect startup Gym-N-Eat Crickets. “But in my experience, having interacted with thousands of people, women are the key to this market. My ideal customer is a woman with kids under the age of 10.”… Read more  

And how about some migratory locusts?

• European Commission authorizes migratory locust for human consumption:  The European Commission has authorized Locusta migratoria (migratory locust) as a novel food to be placed on the market. This is the second authorization of an insect as a novel food — the first being dried yellow mealworms, which was adopted in July.  The term “migratory locust” refers to the adult Locusta migratoria, an insect… Continue Reading

Apparently so.

They do have nutritional value, although studies of their nutrient composition are limited in number and scope and show high variability in results.  Nutrient composition is usually given in 100 gram (about 3 ounces) portions and that seems like a lot of insects, way more than anyone might eat at one time.  It’s also hard to imagine how many insects you would need to get three ounces worth.

Some recent items on this topic, inspired by the hatching of the most recent Cicada brood.

• Can you eat cicadas? Yes, and here’s the best way to catch, cook and snack on them.  “Weiss says you could saute cicadas in butter with garlic, marinate them, roast them, toast like nuts and, of course, dip in chocolate like she did for her kids years ago. She has worked on a small book on cicadas, including information on food preparation, which will be available soon.”
• Don’t eat cicadas if you’re allergic to seafood, the FDA warns: Weeks after the arrival of Brood X, the buzzy swarm of cicadas that emerge from the ground every 17 years to cover trees and sidewalks across a swath of the country, federal health officials have a new warning: People with seafood allergies shouldn’t eat the insects.
• FAO highlights possible food safety issues with edible insects:  By Joe Whitworth on Apr 21, 2021 12:05 am The benefits of edible insects as an emerging food source must be weighed against potential food safety issues, according to the United Nations’ FAO. While insects have been part of the diets of many cultures in various regions through the centuries, farming of them for human food and animal feed is relatively recent and not… Continue Reading 
• Big bug boom: Health and sustainability biggest drivers as APAC governments increase backing for million-dollar edible insect industryGovernments and food industry players across the Asia Pacific region are providing increasing support to the insect-based food industry as an alternative protein source from South Korea to Australia, all touting health as sustainability as the sector’s biggest drivers…. Read more 
• Insect protein as beneficial as milk protein, find researchers:  Researchers in Denmark say mealworm protein and milk protein have the same performance on digestion, absorption, and on the ability to stimulate muscle production…. Read more
• Here’s the study comparing the proteins of lesser mealworms and milk: Ingestion of a meal-like amount of lesser mealworm–derived protein is followed by rapid protein digestion and amino acid absorption and increases muscle protein synthesis rates both at rest and during recovery from exercise. The postprandial protein handling of lesser mealworm does not differ from ingesting an equivalent amount of milk protein concentrate in vivo in humans.

If you are interested in edible insects—and who is not—this fabulous FAO report examines the safety implications of their farming and production.

As explained in the executive summary:

Until recently edible insects have been collected mainly from the wild but farming insects for human as well as animal consumption is now on the rise. Their high fecundity, high feed conversion efficiency, and rapid growth rates make insects viable and attractive candidates for farming. In addition, they can be reared in small, modular spaces, making it feasible to raise them in rural as well as urban farm settings.

After reviewing the environmental and nutritional benefits of insect production, the report continues:

However, the benefits of this emerging food source must be weighed against all possible challenges: for instance, any food safety issues that could pose health threats to consumers….This publication covers some of the major food safety hazards that should be considered, including biological agents (bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic) as well as chemical contaminants (pesticides, toxic metals, flame retardants)….
concerns. Food safety risks can be higher when insects are harvested from the wild and consumed raw.

The moral: cook your insects!