Contents
- New edible cricket species
- World edible insect day
- Meeting reports
- Novel food regulation news
- Hen feed, fish feed
- Insect products on UK supermarket shelves
- Meetings and Events
- Publications
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Edible cricket species identified in Kenya
At the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya, an edible cricket suitable for human consumption and animal feed that can be produced on a large scale has been named Scapsipedus icipe by Tanga et. al. in Zootaxa (See Publications).
The cricket was discovered by icipe’s insect for food and feed programme, supported by international funding bodies. Scapsipedus icipe is farmed widely in Kenya, but was thought to be Acheta domesticus. Scapsipedus icipe, which exists commonly around buildings and fields, has a distinctive yellow band between the eyes, a characteristic call, and territorial behaviour by males.
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Scapsipedus icipe
GREENiNSECT, University of Copenhagen, has supported three years of research in Kenya to realise the potential of indigenous insects to provide food and feed. The project has identified a new insect that is already being farmed on a large scale.
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World edible insect day 23 October 2018
As entomologists working in an insectary at Syngenta, Jealott’s Hill, we felt it important to show case one of the many - if not less well known - reasons for the mass rearing of invertebrates - PROTEIN!
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We sourced pre-prepared species of BBQ mealworms, cheese and onion crickets, and vinegar crickets, chilli chapulines, fried giant waterbugs, fried maguey worms, friend mopane worms, and pressure cooked sago larvae. These were available for colleagues to come along and try. I’m delighted to say that we had over 55 attendees over the course of 2 hours and nearly everything went including the pressure-cooked sago larvae and fried giant water bugs! The cheese and onion flavoured crickets were a big hit. Furthermore, I am particularly excited about the interest and fascination our head chef has about the idea of entomorphagy and the fact that a regular gym-going colleague is eager to try out invertebrate protein energy bars and cricket based baking flour.
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Thailand and UK agree collaboration in science, innovation, and technology
On 14 November, the Thai Minister of Science and Technology and the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor signed a memorandum of understanding in London to promote co-operation in science, innovation, and technology. The Newton Fund administers grants for this totalling £150 million delivered by the British Council in six research areas, one of which is agriculture and food security. Thailand has burgeoning insect production for food and feed that could prove suitable for an application to newtonfund@britishcouncil.or.th for 2020.
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Contribution of the European insect sector to competitive and sustainable value chains
The 2018 IPIFF conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Brussels on 6 November. 200 delegates from member states, the European Commission, entomology, industry, and science discussed how insects meet a need for healthy eating and protein additives to food. IPIFF have assembled an information pack to assist making novel food applications. Approvals for the 5 insect species in 6 applications submitted as novel foods under regulation 2015/2283 are expected towards the end of 2019.
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Novel food regulation news
Regulation 2015/2283 governing approval of novel foods came into effect in January 2018, with a 12 month transition period for countries where insects were already available as food and feed. Applications for approval for insects received by the European Commission have to be forwarded to the European Food Safety Authority within one month of the application being validated. The Commission may consult the Authority to determine if the application is valid. That determination must be returned to the Commission within 30 days. On receipt of a valid application the European Food Standards Authority then has 9 months to adopt its opinion. However, if the Authority requests further information, that 9 month period may be extended.
Once adopted, the application goes to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food, and Feed, who then have 7 months to turn the authorisation into a draft implementing act authorising the novel food being placed on the market within the European Union, and updating the list of novel foods permitted within the Union.
Approvals for the applications for insects as food are expected in the latter half of 2019, beyond the 18 month timetable in the regulations. In the interim it is thought that the insect food may continue to be available for sale and consumption.
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China food tech summit – 28 September, Shanghai
I attended this as part of my work facilitating UK–China collaboration on agri- and food tech. It was a first of its kind and attracted a sizeable audience with talks and panel discussions with a focus on the state of food tech in China and the main trends affecting it.
I know the organisers and despite their having a session on protein alternatives and seeking, with my help, someone to speak about the state of insect protein in China insects did not feature in any of the event. The session was preceded by a talk on the challenges of creating meat in ways other than through livestock farming.
- Panellists are working on a Chinese platform promoting veganism, meat-like products and chickpea protein.
- In the future we won’t have the rigid consumer segments defined by veganism etc. People will make choices more flexibly as a broader range of products from a wider set of raw materials become available.
- In China the protein consumption is mainly in the form of pork (largest), fish, chicken with growing beef consumption. The style of cooking is particular to their culture and any products need to reflect that.
- In Chinese culture it is considered rude to create difficulties for the host so vegetarians/vegans will often not express their preferences.
- There are vegetable dishes and these can involve more use of oil and seasoning. They are not seen to be healthy choices – young people are putting increasing emphasis on healthy options
- To be successful you should target the mainstream consumer, not vegans, and aim to convince meat eaters to try products as alternatives: “flexitarians” who understand the issues but don't want to give up on meat entirely.
- The Chinese are used to fermented food that can be similar to cellular foods.
- Many consumers are looking for “clean” labels without lots of artificial ingredients. If your protein can help to create a simpler set of ingredients that will be seen to be positive.
- In China there are big concerns about food safety following a number of scares and abuses. Consumers wish traceability and quality control.
- Chickpea protein can go into a wide variety of products as a dairy alternative – e.g. milk drinks, puddings, yoghurt, egg free mayonnaise and act as an emulsifier.
- The innovator needs to consider the culture and preferences of the consumer and how the product will actually be consumed.
- Accessing raw materials and affordability can be challenging.
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Effective Altruism Global – 28 October, London
I attended this at the invitation of the Good Food Institute, to take part in a debate about the role of insects in the human food sector.
Effective Altruism is an organisation focussed on helping individuals who want to make a positive difference to the world, and make decisions about how to do this based on evidence and rational argument rather than prejudice or gut feeling.
The Good Food Institute is based in California with a mission to support the growth of plant-based meat alternatives to reduce the use of resources from meat consumption, and reduce suffering to livestock. From the outset, the suffering of insects in farms was going to be their principal argument. Their position is that we do need protein alternatives but seeking insects to provide this is going to be much harder than using plants and runs the risk of bringing more suffering into the world.
I believe I presented a strong case for insects but I could find very little comparison between the impact of insect farming and clean meat production, etc. It seemed to me that the arguments were:
- Both plants and insects can to be much better than livestock farming to produce protein for human consumption.
- Using plants has advantages. Products are available already, and they are closer in appearance and texture to substitute for meat in dishes. They cost is less than insect based products. Regulatory approval is likely to be easier for plant than insect products.
- Using insects has advantages that they bring a different set of nutritional possibilities and values, can have the potential to stimulate disease resistance. Insects can be fed on a wide range of waste materials should regulatory bodies permit it.
The insect protein community needs to create more mainstream food dishes to become a protein alternative – not just a source of additional protein for the wealthy. Also, price and availability of products needs to improve rapidly. I would suggest that insect based products will need to find niches and markets that reflect their distinctive advantages. We need more research how to mitigate risk. While securing a wider range of waste material to feed to insects we must use different language when we talk about this to consumers.
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Eggs without soya in hens’ diet
OERei eggs, Netherlands, come from hens whose diet is augmented by 20% black soldier fly larvae, delivered chilled but still live to the farmers. EU regulations differ for processed animal proteins and proteins from live animals.
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Skretting produces black soldier fly fish feed
Skretting’s factory in Averøy, Norway has produced commercial salmon feed with insect meal made from the larvae of the black soldier fly - an EU-approved commodity. Nordlaks, Stokmarknes, producer of atlantic salmon and rainbow trout is the first customer to test the feeds containing insect meal, feeding it to 360,000 fry.
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Sainsbury’s stores, and Morrisons online stock Cricket snack
Insect products are now sold in 250 of Sainsbury’s stores and by Morrisons online. Sainsbury’s offer Smoky BBQ Crunchy Roasted Crickets by Eat Grub. These are farmed in Europe and sell for £1.50 for 9 g. Morrisons online has three flavours of Eat Grub’s energy bars, and three flavours of crunchy roasted crickets.
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Meetings
Meetings
3-4 January 2019
Oxford Real Farming Conference
Oxford Town Hall
2-3 April 2019
Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester
Insects for food and feed
Entomorphagy special interest group
This conference will draw together the multidisciplinary aspects of this emerging industry and will provide a forum for participants to discuss the progress that has been made over the previous year, exchange ideas and expand their existing networks. The conference will be streamed live on the internet and a ten minute film of the highlights of each day will be produced.
Day one will focus on insects, as part of human diets, while day two will examine insects as animal feed. Both days will begin with a case study followed by three short presentations that outline developments and challenges in that sector. Lunch will be followed by a general discussion. At the end of day one the Agricultural Innovation Centre “Farm 491” will provide a drinks reception in their new state of the art building. The conference dinner will then be held in the universities dining hall. There will also be a trade fair on both days where companies associated with this industry can showcase their products and services.
6-9 May 2019
Food innovation summit – in the world
Fiera Milano, Rho, Italy
6-9 November 2019
1st Brazilian Conference on Insects as Feed and Food, and the 2nd Brazilian Symposium of Anthropo-entomorphagy
Montes Claros, MG, Brazil
Brazil is a hotspot for biodiversity of animals especially insects. The tropical weather and the availability of sun all year round in a much of this country make it a perfect candidate for the breeding and harvesting insects that can be used as feed and food for animal and human consumption, respectively. Moreover, the usage of insects to recycle waste streams derived from livestock and poultry industry could be a low-cost solution to prevent contamination of the environment, and at same, time producing a sustainable protein source to be used in poultry, livestock and aquaculture. Attracting investments (private and federal) in order to develop research in this field is the ultimate goal of this conference, which will enable this industry to flourish.
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Publications
1. de Gier S, Verhoeckx K. Insect (food) allergy and allergens. Mol Immunol 2018;100:82-106
DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2018.03.015
This reviews cases reporting allergy following insect ingestion, studies on food allergy to insects, proteins involved in insect allergy including cross-reactive proteins, and the possibility to alter the allergenic potential of insects by food processing and digestion. Food allergy to insects has been described for silkworm, mealworm, caterpillars, Bruchus lentis, sago worm, locust, grasshopper, cicada, bee, Clanis bilineata, and the food additive carmine, which is derived from female Dactylopius coccus insects. For cockroaches, which are also edible insects, only studies on inhalation allergy have been described. Various insect allergens have been identified including tropomyosin and arginine kinase, which are both pan-allergens known for their cross-reactivity with homologous proteins in crustaceans and house dust mite. Cross-reactivity and/or co-sensitization of insect tropomyosin and arginine kinase has been demonstrated in house dust mite and seafood (e.g. prawn, shrimp) allergic patients. In addition, many other (allergenic) species (various non-edible insects, arachnids, mites, seafoods, mammals, nematoda, trematoda, plants, and fungi) have been identified with sequence alignment analysis to show potential cross-reactivity with allergens of edible insects. It was also shown that thermal processing and digestion did not eliminate insect protein allergenicity. Although purified natural allergens are scarce and yields are low, recombinant allergens from cockroach, silkworm, and Indian mealmoth are readily available, giving opportunities for future research on diagnostic allergy tests and vaccine candidates.
2. Tanga C, Magara HJO, Ayieko MA, Copeland RS, Khamis FM, Mohamed SA, Ombura FLO, Niassy S, Subramanian S, Fiaboe KKM, Roos N, Ekesi S, Hugel S. A new edible cricket species from Africa of the genus Scapsipedus. Zootaxa 2018; 4486 (3)
A new cricket of the genus Scapsipedus is described from Kenya. The distribution, acoustic behaviour, including call and courtship song, mitochondrial sequences, and data on the biology of that new species are given. This edible cricket is a very promising species for mass production for food and feed.
3. Wilkie RM. 'Minilivestock' Farming: Who is Farming Edible Insects in Europe and North America? Journal of Sociology Accepted/In press - 28 Oct 2018
An innovative food sector is emerging in North America and Europe: edible insects. Eating insects is not new; farming insects for human consumption is novel. This paper provides an overview of Entomorphagy to contextualise this upsurge in ‘minilivestock’ farming. It also charts the rise of ‘feeder’ insect farms because their ability to mass rear invertebrates, for exotic pets, reptiles and other insectivores, is of much interest to those starting and intensifying edible insect farms. A descriptive characterisation of frontier farmers will be provided by preliminary profile findings from 17 semi-structured pilot interviews with people with varying experience of rearing feeder and/or food insects. Since conventional livestock workers were the ‘forgotten pillar’ in agricultural research, this paper affords timely insights into the socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle interests, and farming experiences of ‘entopreneurs’ shaping this new ‘insect industry’.
4. Circus VE, Robison R. Exploring perceptions of sustainable proteins and meat attachment. British Food Journal DOI: 10.1108/BFJ-01-2018-0025
Plant-based substitutes were favoured for personal consumption for moral and ethical reasons and edible insects were least favoured due to aversion. Meat attachment was significantly associated with personal willingness to consume alternative proteins in each of the three cases. Results challenged previous research that had proposed that when considering the effectiveness of certain alternatives in addressing global environmental issues, people may advocate them but not want to consume them personally. Results imply that the congruity of these perceptions is more complex.
5. Sogari G, Menozzi D, Mora C. The food neophobia scale and young adults’ intention to eat insect products. Int J Consum Stud 2018;00:1-9
DOI: 10.1111/ijcs.12485
The relationship between willingness to try (WTT) and behaviour of eating insects, with independent variables of food neophobia, sensory property expectations, and previous consumption was explored in 88 Italian participants. The food neophobia scale (FNS) was constructed using 9 of the 10 items from the original FNS, and a Structural Equation Modelling approach was used. Males are more open to trying insects than females, and food neophobia is correlated negatively with the willingness to eat insects. First exposure to insects positively increases consumers’ sensory property expectations. Intention to try is a strong predictor of the behaviour of eating insects. People who scored lower on the FNS were more likely to try (intention) and consequently eat insects (behaviour). These findings enhance knowledge about factors that could lead to lower levels of negative prejudice and greater willingness to taste edible insects among Western consumers.
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