Insects are called “food of the future”. By 2023, the global market for such food will reach $ 1.2 billion.
Insects are transformed from exotic food into an everyday food rich in protein and free of allergens or toxins.
Growing insects in an industrial environment is already a current trend in the food industry, and not a fantastic future.
Revyuh.com talks about the benefits of introducing insects into the diet.
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The European Union has already adopted
Now our planet is home to about 8 billion people. According to UN forecasts, by 2050 their number will grow to 10 billion. And in order to feed everyone, you will have to increase food production.
However, already now humanity uses 60 percent more resources than it can produce. A third of all food produced in the world is wasted, and ten percent of the world’s inhabitants go hungry.
Meat is essentially a mixture of fats, amino acids, various minerals and water. Plants contain similar components. However, the production of livestock products requires a large investment of resources for a relatively low calorie output.
According to Accenture research, one chicken egg has a 39: 1 potency index. This means that to get one unit of energy in the form of calories, you need to spend 39 equivalent units of energy.
Every year, 70 percent of fresh water is consumed by agriculture, and livestock is responsible for a fifth of climate change on the planet, which, according to the UN, is greater than the cumulative impact of all global transport.
In 2019, humanity got 37 percent of the protein it needs from meat and dairy products. For their production, 77 percent of all agricultural land on the planet was used.
Eating insects in food is considered one of the alternative options for getting enough protein, since they are not only available and nutritious, but they also do not harm the ecosystem.
Beetles have a so-called high feed assimilation rate because they are cold-blooded. On average, an insect needs two kilograms of food per kilogram of mass. At the same time, insects can feed on waste and require less water and living space.
So, last month, dried mealworms – the larval form of the large mealworm – were allowed to be eaten in the European Union.
“Insects are an alternative source of protein that can support the EU’s transition to a more sustainable food system,” the European Commission said.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recognized these worms as edible in mid-January – as a whole larva as a snack or as a powder as an ingredient in a number of foods.
The French company Agronutris applied for permission to eat the larvae. The EU decision allows it to be the only supplier of products containing these insects for five years. Then the market will be open to other players as well.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that there are approximately 1,900 species of insects suitable for food.
Crickets, grasshoppers, and mealworms are already making food in many parts of the world. About two billion people on the planet regularly consume insects. And European experts are currently working on solutions for 14 more insect products, the EFSA noted.
France already has a restaurant called Inoveat, where chef Laurent Veillet serves insect-based dishes. One of the top positions is shrimp salad with yellow mealworm and crispy insects on vegetables.
Veillet says that he grows mealworms locally, and feeds them with oatmeal and vegetables. They, he says, die naturally after four months or a year, after which they are harvested for cooking.
The trend is growing with the growing interest of people in healthy and sustainable lifestyles, flexitarianism (reducing meat consumption) and the Paleo diet (the supposed diet of a person of the Paleolithic era).
Insects are 70 percent protein on average. In crickets, the content of essential amino acids (valine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan and phenylalanine) is higher or comparable to beef, eggs, soy and legumes.
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Other nutrients can also be obtained from insects. For example, omega-3, iron and zinc from insects – as well as from all meat – are much better absorbed by humans than plant counterparts.
The risk of food allergies is minimal. Antibiotics are not used when growing insects, so the situation with antibiotic resistance will not worsen. Parasites or infections are unlikely to become infected, especially if heat treatment is used.