Crickets to eat
Some food industries are focusing on the production of insect-based foods. Among the various species, one in particular seems to lend itself considerably to breeding: the ground cricket (Genus Acheta).
The company that first developed a cricket-based product for human consumption is the "Tiny Farms”, Based in California. This company, after a considerable economic investment, has placed on the market a real animal meal based on insects: cricket flour.
Cricket flour
Cricket meal does not seem to have many characteristics in common with most of the flours of animal origin (fish meal, horn meal, bone, hoof and blood, etc.), as it results in:
- edible for humans;
- hygienically safe;
- eco friendly;
- even if for the moment it is extremely expensive.
From what its producers claim, cricket flour should be neither at risk of contaminants (such as dioxins and methylmercury in fish), nor at risk of prions (such as those responsible for "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy" or BSE or Mucca Pazza ).
The cost of cricket flour (100% ground cricket based) is around $ 25-45 per pound (just under half a kilogram). Obviously, this is a much higher price than both the average of flours of animal origin and that of alternative flours intended to improve the protein intake for humans. It is clear that, for the moment, the use of cricket flour for human or animal nutrition is completely unsustainable (especially contextualized in a large-scale production).
For their part, the inventors of cricket flour "bet everything" on a decidedly enviable and desirable characteristic, that is "eco-sustainability (rather unrelated to other products in the same category). It is not new that the planet Earth is running out. its natural resources due to excessive exploitation by man; despite this, an excessive amount of energy and food continues to be produced.
Suffice it to say that, to obtain 1 pound of meat (just under half a kilogram), it is necessary to use an average of 25 pounds of feed. Conversely, to produce 1 pound of crickets, 2 pounds of feed is enough. A big difference. This is attributable to the fact that, compared to traditional slaughter animals (birds and even more mammals), insects grow exponentially faster.
Marketing forecasts indicate that, by 2054, alternative sources will exceed 33% of global protein production and, in this context, cricket meal will play a fundamental role.
Costs: Is It Worth It?
At this point, many readers will ask: "Because cricket flour costs so much if you need to use so little feed to produce it?”
Underlining that this is a product still under development, it is necessary to take into consideration that the manufacturing companies have had to invest enormous capital for: research, state-of-the-art plants, feed formulation, software, etc. Obviously, the expenses will be amortized over time and further reduced thanks to research and technological commitment; however, at the moment it is necessary to continue to invest capital to optimize the farming method and the processing process.
Personally I believe that, although the introduction on the market of a similar product may be difficult, above all because of collective skepticism, an attempt by the Western population is at least a duty.
The growth rate of crickets is many times higher than that of large mammals, which is why their use in human nutrition could constitute a partial but effective solution to the problems of: intensive farming, the presence of drugs and contaminants in the final product, exploitation of land resources and deforestation for agricultural purposes.
Nutritional Benefits
Why eat insects?
Indeed, reading this article, even the less fussy readers will have asked themselves a similar question. The answer is far from obvious and, in fact, almost unbelievable.
Most of the insects destined for human consumption, without exception for crickets, contain very little fat and, moreover, make use of a high biological value protein concentration, which is close to 60-70% of the total mass.
Furthermore, crickets are very rich in calcium, iron and vitamin B12 (cobalamin); in conclusion, they would seem a real panacea for bone growth, for the prevention of iron deficiency anemia and also of megaloblastic anemia.
Use in Human Nutrition
How is insect meal used in human nutrition?
It seems that, to date, the main use of cricket flour is as an ingredient in the formulation of protein bars.
The companies that deal with the marketing of cricket flour are increasing visibly. In addition to Tiny Farms, Cricket Flours (Oregon), Next Millennium Farms (Ontario), Big Cricket Farms ( Ohio), the Aspire Food Group (Texas) and the All Things Bugs (Georgia).
In addition, more than one company is currently producing cricket-based foods. The most important are Chapul (based in Salt-Lake City) and EXO (based in Brooklyn), thanks to the aforementioned protein bars.
Again, the cricket meal market has proven to be fertile. The aforementioned companies are followed by San Francisco (based in Bitty) which produces biscuits with cricket flour, and Six Food (based in Cambridge) which produces Chirps, or snacks based on legumes, rice and cricket flour, similar to potato chips.
Recently the "Crickè" (start up of Italians with production in London) was also born, which produces crackers and tortillas based on cricket flour.
