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September 2018 Newsletter                                                View this email in your browser

Contents

Ethics for edible insects
Novel foods
Expert advisory board
Entopreneurs
Awards
Meeting report
Meetings
Events
Publications

From the Editor


Apologies for the September edition arriving in October. The next edition is planned to precede World Edible Insect day on 23 October 2018 - see below.

If this copy of the newsletter is not your own, http://eepurl.com/bz3meT will take you to where you can receive your own free copy. Free Associate Membership also includes regular delivery of the Woven newsletter.
Woven Network stands up for edible insects in debate on ethics – and needs your help!
 
Have you heard of Effective Altruism? It is a “global” organisation that seeks to inform and support everyone in making ethical decisions about what causes to support and how to maximise positive impact on the world. https://www.effectivealtruism.org
 
Following an event in San Francisco, there is an Effective Altruism Global event in London 26-28 October 2018 that will include a discussion around the theme of ‘Should we eat insects?’  (Further information)
 
I have been asked to participate in favour of the motion and the speaker against is from the Good Food Institute, a substantial, well-funded American advocacy and research body that focuses on promoting plant-based foods and protein alternatives. https://www.gfi.org . This makes it a bit of a David and Goliath encounter as Woven is all volunteer-run and receives no sponsorship! Effective Altruism emphasises evidence based statements rather than just statements of belief or unsubstantiated opinion.
 
I need to understand where the evidence is thin as well as where we are confident of our ground. If you have good material that summarises the arguments for and against insect protein, including the issues around insect welfare / sentience in the context of insect farming, or facts/evidence around the habitat destruction, including harm to insects in the wild, from the expansion of soya growing or other intensive plant food production please send it in to Woven or to nick.rousseau@woven-network.co.uk .
Nick Rousseau, Woven Founder and MD

Novel Food update

 
We invite questions and concerns from our members that we can put to the European Commission to help everyone in the food sector prepare for the changes resulting from the new regulations coming into force across the European Union. We have taken three questions to Unit E2- Food processing technologies and novel foods: https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/novel_food_en
 
The transition measure (period) is officially only 2018 for the insects that where placed on the market before 2018. But if the application for that species has been submitted, will the transition period be extended until the application is approved?
 
Response: Article 35(2) of the novel food regulation refers to foods not falling within the scope of the former novel regulation (258/97) which are lawfully placed on the market by 1 January 2018 and which fall within the scope of the new novel food regulation. For insects, these provisions apply to whole insects that were not considered novel foods and lawfully placed in some Member States by 1 January 2018. Article 8(5) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2469 establishes that the deadline for the submission of applications referred to in Article 35(2) of the novel food regulation shall be 1 January 2019. If the application is submitted by 1 January 2019, the product may continue on the market until it is approved.
 
In one application, the content of insect in the food categories listed is very important. Can we assume that all foods containing a SMALLER percentage would be approved too? The health risks will be more only in when the percentage of insect is higher, not if it is lower. Therefore a lower percentage should not require another application.
 
Response: In principle this is correct.
 
In the Acheta application, food categories like Confectionery (70% of fresh A. domesticus) and Protein products excluding dairy analogues (70% of fresh A. domesticus) are unclear. What does fresh mean?
 
Response: Fresh crickets means heat-treated crickets that were not dehydrated.
 
Please let us know if you have other questions that you would like Woven Network to submit.
 

Woven Network Expert Advisory Group

 
We are delighted to announce that the Woven Network is building a strong body of expertise to underpin its work and the support for the sector, through creating an Expert Advisory Group. These are individuals who have personal or professional expertise in a particular domain and who have agreed to be approached to deal with queries or provide input from time to time.
 
To date our Expert Advisors are:
 
Arnold van Huis – Emeritus professor of Wageningen University & chief editor of the Journal of Insects as Food and Feed.
 
Sarah Beynon – Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford & owner of Dr. Beynon’s Bug Farm research centre.
 
Meredith Lloyd-Evans – Managing Director of BioBridge Ltd., a bioscience innovation consultancy.
 
Casey Woodward – Head of Business Development at the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock.
 
Jo Wise – Head of Monkfield Nutrition Ltd.

Further details may be found on the 'About' section of Woven-Network website. We look forward to adding to this list.

Entopreneurs

 
Bugburger have compiled a list of current and former Entopreneurs to mark World Edible Insect Day on 23 October 2018. These are companies, organisations and individuals who either are working on an edible-insect product, are planning to deliver one or are just advocating the benefits of eating insects. The list is incomplete because companies change strategies and products, or may cease trading, but the list demonstrates what is happening, and what kinds of products start-ups choose. 231 companies and brands on the list. Bugburger invites comments to update the list.

Awards

 
The Bristol Veterinary School, part of the University of Bristol in the UK, has been awarded two Innovate UK grants totalling nearly £160,000 for studies that aim to further progress towards sustainable livestock production and improve broiler chicken welfare. The projects will use the new £1 million CIEL poultry house, funded by the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL), a membership organisation linking academic institutions and industry partners in the U.K.
 
The projects focus on lighting for broiler chicken production and the feasibility of on-farm insect larvae production for feeding broilers. John Tarlton, professor of regenerative medicine at Bristol Vet, will lead a £60,000 part of a £571,000 Innovate UK-funded project that will examine the feasibility of on-farm production of insect larvae from food waste to be used as a feed component for chickens.
 
“The global population is expected to increase to nearly 10 billion by 2050. Alongside other problems of climate change and reduced agricultural land availability, feeding the world’s population is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity," Tarlton said.
 
“Insects are one of the most-efficient converters of protein and are able to do this from non-human-edible food waste, a resource totalling 1.3 billion metric tons each year. Unfortunately, most people in the world are reluctant to eat insects. However, chickens, the world’s greatest producers of animal protein for human consumption, have no such sensibilities," he added. "Indeed, they are enthusiastic consumers of insects. The aim of the study is to assess nutritional, health and welfare outcomes in chickens ... to advance progress towards sustainable livestock production, with an emphasis on animal health and welfare.”

Meeting report 

Eating Insects Athens, 13-15 August 2018, Georgia, USA
 
The North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture (NACIA) hosted ‘Eating Insects’ in Athens, Georgia. This built on the momentum of Eating Insects, Detroit in 2016. The event brought together global experts and leaders in the edible insect movement from industry, academia and government. The three-day conference included fascinating presentations on research and industry progress, insect tasting sessions, art displays, trade exhibitions and numerous opportunities for networking and collaboration. It concluded with several industry awards. A full list of speakers can be found online.
 


On display throughout a part of the event space was an art gallery showcasing topical works by a wide variety of artists. Nearly 60 bug-themed works were exhibited from national and international artists.
 
Day 1 started with Dr Marianne Shockley’s talk about engaging audiences with edible insects. We learned about how collaborative outreach can lead to huge impacts. Aly Moore from Bugible discussed edible bugs and managing the media and the public response. Aly spoke about her experience on how digital marketing, public relations, and media can be better leveraged to shape human acceptance of bugs as ingredients.
 
Keynote speaker, Jack Armstrong of Armstrong’s Cricket Farm reflected on what it’s like to be the oldest established cricket grower in the US (his son will be a 4th generation farmer) He discussed the future of the industry, noting that regulatory bodies, such as the FDA, seemed less interested in how they were farming their crickets than how they were processed.
 
Wendy Lu McGill, founder of Rocky Mountain Micro Ranch, discussed the pros and cons of launching a consumer retail brand and highlighted the merits of a co-branded approach.
 
Valerie Stull, MIGHTi / University of Wisconsin-Madison, gave a captivating presentation of her teams study ‘Edible Cricket Consumption on Gut Microbiota in Healthy Adults, a Double-blind, Randomized Crossover Trial’. The study found that eating crickets could reduce inflammation and promote good gut bacteria in adults. Florian Nock of JIMINI’S shed light on consumer psychology and ended on a note that would be repeated often throughout the conference: more collaboration between companies is needed.
 
Bob Fischer - Ethics for Insect Eaters – ethics are a hot topic in this industry. Eating insects could provide the conscientious consumer with an alternative to other traditional livestock. Tequila Ray Snorkle from Ovipost took us through some simple farm hacks, i.e. everything she was allowed to share without compromising the competitive advantage of Ovipost.
 
Josh Galt aka ENTOVEGAN, spoke of the real nutritional benefits of insects, the importance of honesty and of sticking to the mission of doing the least harm possible. Justin Butner from EntomoCentral took us on a splendid linguistic tour the edible insect industry. The terminology we use is important and alternatives like ‘micromeat’ might have more consumer traction. Think #insectcuisine.
 
Anne Carlson - The pet market is big, growing, and very emotional. She is targeting audiences like the vegetarians that feel bad about giving their dogs traditional livestock based foods as well as other socially conscious pet owners.
 
There followed a panel discussion led by industry veterans. Key points were differentiation, communication, transparency and best practises.
 
Amy Franklin from Farms for Orphans (see last month’s newsletter for more info) explained how her company is providing small scale palm weevil larvae farms as income streams and nutrition sources in orphanages in the DRC. Ryan Goldin from Entomo Farms talked about moving away from being a novelty food to a credible product in which consumers have confidence. Sigbjørn Albertsen then talked about the Nordic insect economy, where emphasis was on aquafeed for farmed salmon and automation (given Norway’s minimum wage of USD 22/hr). James Ricci’s presentation concerned integrated pest management for cricket farms.
 
On the eventing of the 13th Brooklyn Bugs hosted ‘The Buzz’: An Evening of Insect Cuisine at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia – eight tasting dishes for gastronomical pleasure.
 
Jeff Tomberlin began the second day with a fascinating talk on black soldier fly production. Then Liz Koutsos from Enviroflight presented a review of current knowledge of composition and feeding applications for BSF larvae. Our second keynote speaker, Dr. Julie Lesnik, shared her absorbing research, demonstrating that humans have consumed insects throughout our evolutionary timeline. Chef Joseph Yoon from Brooklyn Bugs stressed that we eat with our eyes first – insect cuisine needs to look good as well as taste good.
 
Bruce Wayne brought up good questions about the applications of insects in longevity programs, preventative care, and in elderly homes. He also asked that we rally around enforcing standards that redefine the industry in the aftermath of food abundance. The final keynote speaker was Pat Crowley, the founder of Chapul. He walked us through his inspiring journey, from winning investment on the hit US TV show Shark Tank to creating an international presence. We then listened to a really interesting panel talk which touched on topics like the importance of cultural sensitivity and monitoring press (with a focus on “Is all press good press?”)
 
CM (Tilly) Collins from Imperial College, London talked about survey results showing attitudes to, and acceptance of, entomophagy in men, women and children in the UK. Then David M Gracer’s wide-ranging talk looked at metacognition, narrative arcs and biblical references. Cheryl Preyer followed this talk using her ento-hero’s journey as a guide to steer our narrative away from the pervasive fear-based preconceptions many western cultures have towards bugs. Ryan Yamka gave us an information-packed insiders’ view of the regulatory framework companies must work within to gain approval introducing insects into pet food formulations in the US.
 
The day concluded with a talk from Mohammed Ashour of Aspire Food Group and Exo. A compelling talk that explored everything from the importance of shared best practices to how groups like NACIA could play a critical role in the success of the whole industry. Aspire will be publishing their patent on chitin extraction and SOPs on cricket farming to NACIA and Woven to encourage a future of better collaboration. 
 
That evening we had a vendor’s reception and insect tasting event. With over 15 species of insect on offer through various products it was the perfect opportunity to sample everything from spicy chapulines to cricket bitters. Or for the more adventurous – cricket based dog treats and defatted BSF meal!
 

 




















The final day of the conference started with Becky Griffin discussing how entomophagy can be made accessible to children through the US School Gardens scheme. Trina Chiasson from Ovipost gave an eye opening talk on the misleading facts and statistics that abound in the insects as food sector and how we need more research on the actual impacts of insect farming as compared to alternative livestock.
 
Best presentation title goes to Kevin Bachhuber’s ‘Crickets Are Stupid, and Will Drown Themselves If Possible: A Catalog of Errors’ – shared insights on everything from bulk purchasing and the importance of documentation to the need for more veterinary entomologists to more quickly diagnose health problems in insects. He will be contributing some of his databases to NACIA and Woven Network members. Kubo Dzamba then discussed modular cricket farming and farming cooperatives.
 
Andrea Liceaga discussed the functional properties of cricket protein, her work on water soluble hydrolysed cricket powder was particularly interesting. Lou Sorkin director of entomology at American Museum of Natural History concluded the event with a talk on insect allergies and shared some interesting, if slightly inappropriate before lunch, videos concerning his work with bed bugs. 
 
The next NACIA conference will be held in 2020. The venue is yet to be confirmed, but it is expected that Woven Network members will, as was the case at the Athens conference, be offered discounted registration.
 
Adam Banks adam.banks@woven-network.co.uk, Aly Moore aly@bugible.com

Meetings


26 September 2018
2050 China Food Tech Summit
PWC Shanghai Innovation Centre
Programme

10 Oct 2018, 13:30-22:00 CEST
Symposium: InsectSpace 2018
Wageningen University & Research, and FoodSpace Wageningen University & Research, Impulse building no. 115, 2 Stippeneng, 6708 PB Wageningen, Netherlands
€11.47-53.17
The symposium InsectSpace 2018 will focus on edible insects for human consumption: How can we overcome disgust and repulsion with insects? Researchers, food scientists, entrepreneurs and food designers will present interesting insights about why and how to use insects in our diet.
  
29-30 October 2018
ICE 2018 : 20th International Conference on Entomology 
Holiday Inn Paris Gare Montparnasse
79 - 81 avenue du Maine - 75014 Paris, France
Conference Code: 18FR10ICE
ICE 2018: 20th International Conference on Entomology aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Entomology. It also provides a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Entomology.

6 November 2018
Contribution of the European insect sector to competitive and sustainable value chains. International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) Annual event 2018.
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Brussels 
 
11-14 November 2018
2018 ESA, ESC, and ESBC Joint Annual Meeting.
Crossing borders, entomology in a changing world.
Vancouver, Canada

Events


23 October 2018, 3rd World Edible Insect Day
Woven Network has a collection of recipes, details of chefs who cook with insects and insect products, links with suppliers who will deliver ingredients that are available to members, and can be released to applicants on application. The Eat Grub recipe book has a number of brownies, cookies etc that are available for you to cook.

Are you planning something? Can you help? We hope that this year's Global Edible insects day will be a good opportunity for lots of events around the country. Woven can help to connect people. If you would like to organise something please let us know - what do you need? What are you planning? Who is your audience? If you have resources - products, videos, materials,  brochures ... let us know.
28-28 October 2018
Effective Altruism Global
University College London Institute of Education
10 – 14 November 2018
Agritech mission to Yunnan Province, China
Unconventional Connections in partnership with Connect_China has a mission to the agricultural province of Yunnan in South-West china to foster UK-China agri and food tech collaboration and export. Further details: nick.rousseau@unconventionalconnections.co.uk

Publications

   (Some links require copy and paste into a browser)

Raheem D, Carrascosa C, Oluwole OB, Nieuwland M, Saraiva A, Millán R, Raposo A.
Traditional consumption of and rearing edible insects in Africa, Asia and Europe
Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 2018. ,
DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2018.1440191

 The traditional consumption of edible insects is common in one third of the world’s population, mostly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. There are over one thousand identified species of insects eaten in some stage of their life cycle; and they play important roles in ensuring food security. The most common way to collect insects are from the wild, which is seasonal with limited availability and has an increasing demand resulting in a disruption to the ecosystem. There is a growing interest shown in rearing insects for commercial purposes, and an industrial scale production will be required to ensure steady supplies. Industrial production will need to take into account the living environment of insects, the nutritional composition of their feed and the overall efficiency of the production system. We provide a short overview on the consumption of and rearing insects in Africa, Asia and Europe. For Africa, a snapshot is given for Nigeria, Ghana, Central African Republic, Kenya and Uganda, while the following countries are reported for Asia: China, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, a list of insect species with the highest potential for food and feed in the European Union is provided with some reference to The Netherlands and Finland. The review concludes that there is need to better understand
the rearing and farming procedures that will yield high quality edible insects in Africa, Asia and Europe.
 
 Tschirner M, Kloas W. Increasing the sustainability of aquaculture systems. Insects as alternative protein source for fish diets.
GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 2017:26(4):332-40
https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.26.4.10
 
While aquaculture has a huge potential to contribute to the food security of our planet in the upcoming decades, it is still associated with various environmental concerns. The use of insects as a sustainable protein component in aquafeeds might change that. The fast growth of the aquaculture sector worldwide increases the demand for aquafeeds. Since the production of conventional protein sources like fish meal is stagnating due to fully exploited fish stocks, far-reaching sustainable adaptions of production techniques as well as new alternative protein sources have to be identified. A first step could be the production of omnivorous freshwater species with more modest feed requirements instead of carnivorous marine species. A next step could be the substitution of marine aquafeed ingredients. The popular practice to substitute fish meal by plant proteins is, however, problematic from a nutritive physiological point of view. Moreover, feed crop production, for example, soybeans, has negative effects on land use and water consumption. Novel protein sources of animal origin are insect meals that combine a high nutritional value with small environmental impact production systems.
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