Webinar Series "Ask an Expert"
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Next Webinar: Friday 13 November 2020 at 12:00 UTC (GMT)
David Drew from AgriProtein in South Africa will be hosting the webinar
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David is an international marketeer, technologist and entrepreneur. In 2010 he co-founded AgriProtein, developing sustainable solutions to the world’s protein crisis. David and his team turn waste streams, into valuable animal feeds, mitigating impact on oceans and carbon emissions. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were early financiers of their environmental technology. AgriProtein won the United Nations Prize for African Innovation and the 2018 Sunday Times & Virgin Entrepreneur Award.
Registration
Woven Members: Register through the SHOP / WOVEN WEBINARS section of the Woven Network website if you are a member.
Non-members: Non member tickets are at: SHOP / WOVEN WEBINARS of the Woven Network website.
We welcome suggestions for the webinar series: people, subjects, date and time, format, cost – please email
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Webinar, Friday 16 October 2020
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Robert Nathan Allen (RNA)
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Inspired by a video of eating insects in 2012, RNA contacted entomologists to provide insects to eat where he was working in Austin, Texas. Unable to source them that way, he founded Little Herds as a non-profit organisation to provide information on edible insects to the public, policy makers, and regulators.
This was just at the time of the 2013 report of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations into edible insects, and Little Herds was able to connect interested parties. After a spell with the Aspire Food Group establishing a cricket farm, he returned to Little Herds, setting up the Eating Insects conference in Detroit in 2016 and again in Athens, Texas in 2018. The North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture was founded at the first meeting. GrubTubs and the New Millennium Proteins came next.
Promotion of insect agriculture and eating using platforms and interconnecting with other food forms, such as cellular agriculture and plant based alternative proteins proved good preparation for establishing local food access initiatives during the pandemic. Without the same access to recovery funds as more established food production systems, the insect agriculture industry has suffered this year, but being small and nimble has mitigated this loss. Adapting to direct customer sales has helped when compared to other consumer packaged goods. Regardless of present difficulties the US has been relatively slow to adopt insects as food than other regions, but has maintained progressive growth and attracted inward investment from companies such as Agriprotein and Cargill.
The pet food market is growing with increased spending on increased number of pets. Healthy, allergen free and sustainable, insect feed would be a suitable pet food when price and scale are addressed. Jimini have expanded from dog treats to foods. Regulatory approval has different standards for pet food and varies by state. Purina trialled in Chicago first where they could obtain approval. Children’s snacks too have potential. Children can be free of inhibitions about the source of insect snacks and the sustainability and healthy nature of the contents appeal to parents. Decreasing costs by 5-10% may be enough to establish these insect products.
Startups appear fewer in the US than Europe except perhaps for energy bars. There was great media interest in 2013, but this has levelled off and there is a lack of reporting rather than a lack of activity. One-person startups rarely succeed, and the average age of leaders of successful startups is 55 years. 85% of consumer packaged goods companies fail within 2 years. The acquisition of Exo by Aspire in 2018 is an encouraging sign of success within the industry.
For consumer acceptability Ruby, Rozin, and Chan (2015) found 72% of US respondents open to idea of eating insects. Disgust was the most common reaction, and nutrition and environmental sustainability the most common perceived benefits. The experience of Little Herds is that introducing insects as food to children retains acceptability in later years.
Other novel sources of nutrition such as cellular meat may benefit from an association with insects. Cellular meat has attracted a lot of media attention and investment. Growing cellular meat requires substrate and insects may provide that. Insect cells themselves may be suitable to use to grow meat if they are cheaper to produce and more resilient.
Insect farms will sell to any market, but crickets and grasshoppers tend towards treats and food, whereas black soldier fly is predominantly feed. There is no reason for black soldier fly fed on food fit for human consumption should not appear as food.
In North America, the Canadians are leading government investment in insect innovations. In indigenous peoples there are cultures of eating insects that are being revived with insects in South America being marketed as pre-Hispanic food.
In the discussion David Allen in Myanmar is discovering species of insect, spiders and stink bugs being eaten by indigenous people. Because of decades of isolation, experience has not been captured or shared. Aquaculture is a huge industry there. Rather than particular insects, consideration of food systems would serve better. Aquaculture is importing huge amounts of feed into the country when suitable native insects exist.
Massimo Reverberi returned to the relative lack of new startups in the US compared with Europe. Energy bars provide an opportunity to integrate insects as an ingredient rather than designing a whole new product that is predominantly insect. Another way is to consider insects as a superfood to add as an ingredient, but the relative high price remains a consideration. Crickets for pet food has been a surprising success recently.
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Insect farming in Myanmar
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Spectrum has been funded by Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) to carry out an investigation into the potential for insect farming to contribute to increase incomes and resilience of rural households, and improve nutrition within Myanmar. This should fit within the overall aims of LIFT to reduce sustainably the number of people in Myanmar living in poverty and hunger, and to ensure that Myanmar's rural transformation is inclusive. Spectrum also cooperates with Bonn University (ZEF) as one partner of many in PROCINUT (Production and Processing of Edible Insects for Improved Nutrition) project.
While harvesting of insects for human consumption has a long history in Myanmar and there is considerable associated commercial trade (e.g. to Thailand), farming of insects is relatively recent and has not been documented. It appears to be concentrated in certain areas / insects and likely to face some cultural resistance. As such, Spectrum has had to start from scratch to describe the current situation. They are nearing the end of the project and hope to build a consensus with the relevant authorities to develop the insect farming sector for human food, aquaculture, and poultry feed.
Aquaculture in Myanmar is principally in freshwater fisheries. There is a debate regarding whether greater intensification of this industry would bring benefits. It may be that an increased prevalence of large-scale farms could actually reduce the numbers employed, as they tend to provide fewer jobs. A recent study funded by LIFT identified that smaller farms are less productive, partly due to less expenditure on quality fish feed. The costs of fish feed are a serious impediment to increasing yields and income and the sustainability of small scale fish farming. This suggests there could be real benefits in relation to LIFT’s aims if farmed insects could be produced locally and available to fish farmers in a way that is affordable and creates new job opportunities.
It is very hard to extrapolate confidently to build robust projections for the future of a farmed insect sector in Myanmar or to assess the impact this could have. However, there are many other countries that have explored this and that could provide valuable comparators for Myanmar, both in terms of identifying the opportunities, routes to exploitation and potential value and in understanding the barriers and challenges. This suggests that a focus on wider experience of fish farming around the world could make a big difference to the assessment you are carrying out, and to the ability of the relevant stakeholders to determine the future for this work.
Nick Rousseau’s consultancy, Unconventional Connections, is working with David Allan, who leads Spectrum, to support the final stage of this project by drawing on insights and experience from other countries and helping him prepare for a final consultation event to agree the way forward.
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Sweden approves insects as food
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Bugburger has reported that the Swedish food safety authority, Livsmedelsverket, has approved the sale of some edible insects following a ruling of the European Court of Justice (C-526/19)
The Court ruled that the UK, Finland, and Denmark were correct to allow whole insects and insect powder, and France, Sweden, Italy, and Portugal were wrong to stop the sale of edible insects in 2015 under the Novel Food Act (No 258/97). Applications for each species have to be made to the European Food Safety Authority, but in the transition period between application and decision by EFSA, insect products may be sold.
IPIFF have responded to the decision and prepared a briefing note with the help of Bird and Bird, solicitors.
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Woven comments on draft roadmap to scale UK insect protein production
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Woven Network has contributed comments to the project commissioned by WWF-UK and Tesco to develop a roadmap for scaling of insect protein production for use in animal feed. The project was awarded to an ADAS led consortium that includes leading agricultural law firm Michelmores LLP, and Multibox; a producer of insects from vegetable waste.
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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have invested £5.9 million into Entocycle to convert food waste into animal food using black soldier fly. Entocycle breed the flies and use them in highly automated processes to consume food fit for human consumption that is surplus or wasted. Over 3,000 UK-based jobs will be created, making UK food production more efficient and less carbon-intensive.
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The ValuSect consortium aims to improve the quality of insect production, processing, and environmental impact. Research will be done on the emission of greenhouse gasses, the impact of the substrate, food safety, and on the shelf life of the food product.
If you are an SME developing or selling insect-based food products, you have the opportunity to obtain a voucher worth up to €40,000 in services delivered by the project’s partners. There will be a brochure listing all the services available to develop your products, conduct consumer taste panels, optimise breeding conditions and improve insect food processing.
The call for proposals will be launched in Decebember 2020. Two online information sessions will also be organised to help you complete your application. A second call will be launched in Autumn 2021. 40 proposals will be selected through the two calls.
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Ruby, M. B., Rozin, P., & Chan, C. (2015). Determinants of willingness to eat insects in the U.S.A. and India. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 1, 215-225.
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Where is the world's largest insect farm?
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Ÿnsect, North of Paris have raised £174 million from investors to build Ÿnfarm in Poulainville near Amiens in northern France. The company breeds mealworms to produce proteins for livestock, pet food and fertilisers, and will use the funds to build what it says will be the world's largest insect farm. Due to open in early 2022, it will produce 100,000 tonnes of insect products such as flour and oil annually and conserve land use while creating 500 jobs.
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Aspire Food Group, that operates in Ghana and the United States, will open a 9,300 square metre plant in London, Ontario. They will produce cricket flour to be added as a protein supplement to other foods. When up to full capacity, 9000 tonnes of powder will be produced annually.
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