Edible Insects

Interest in eating insects can be increased, study shows

24-Aug-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

At a time when meat consumption is increasingly being seen as unsustainable, eating insects is for many a comparatively better option. However, many people in the West find insects difficult to stomach. A new study shows that it is possible to increase...

Insect-based Hey Planet expands into US, aims to change perception of eating bugs

21-Mar-2023 By Ryan Daily

Insect-based food company Hey Planet is taking its mission of eating bugs to improve health and the sustainability of the planet to a wider audience with a move into the US market, brand co-founder Jessica Buhl-Nielsen told FoodNavigator-USA.

InnovaFeed raises $250m to expand edible insect platform, build plant in Decatur, IL

22-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

InnovaFeed, a French company with global ambitions in the edible insect arena, has raised $250m in a series D round* backed by agri-food giants including ADM and Cargill, and says it will break ground on a large-scale production facility to farm black...

'Everything we do is geared towards making insect protein affordable...' European edible insect firms Ÿnsect and InnovaFeed outline US ambitions

29-Mar-2022 By Elaine Watson

While animal feed and pet food present bigger commercial opportunities for edible insects in the short term, two key European players in the segment - Innovafeed and Ÿnsect, who are both planning large-scale, highly-automated production facilities in...

Edible insects in focus part V. Gym-N-Eat Crickets: ‘My ideal customer is a woman with kids under 10’

08-Nov-2021 By Elaine Watson

“A lot of cricket protein products seem to be bars and powders targeted at 18-35 year old males that are into mountain biking,” observes Shelby Smith, founder of Iowa-based edible insect startup Gym-N-Eat Crickets. “But in my experience, having interacted...

Edible Insects in focus part IV. Hargol FoodTech: Grasshoppers, gummies, and patience…

08-Nov-2021 By Elaine Watson

Edible insects were always going to be a slow burn in the alternative protein market in Europe and North America, given the ‘ick’ factor and the lack of infrastructure to farm and process them at scale, says Israeli firm Hargol FoodTech. But while the...

Edible insects in focus part III: Farming, from Mexico to Ontario to Israel… ‘At this point, if you're still in business, you definitely know what you're doing’

05-Nov-2021 By Elaine Watson

“We’ve seen people come and go in the edible insects space, but the people who are still around know what they’re doing,” observes Hector Jimenez at Nutrinsectos in Guadalajara Mexico, who – like many people in this nascent industry – first got the edible...

Edible insects in focus part II: Scale and automation… Aspire Food Group gears up to open world’s largest edible cricket processing facility

30-Oct-2021 By Elaine Watson

Aspire Food Group - which is on a mission to automate and professionalize edible insect farming – aims to start production at a CAD $90m 100,000sqft automated cricket processing facility near London, Ontario, in Q1/Q2 of next year that will produce 10,000...

Edible insects in focus, part I: CPG 2nd wave focuses on benefits, not bugs... 'It’s like taking Jell-O and saying, ‘Hey! we've got a bunch of ground up cow bones and sugar. You want some?'

22-Oct-2021 By Elaine Watson

Back in 2013/14, no food innovation conference was complete without at least one session promoting edible insects as the next big thing in ‘alternative protein.’ Since then, the field has become littered with the corpses of bug-fueled startups that ran...

What's for dinner? Grasshoppers, says Hargol FoodTech as it raises $3m to build edible insect operation

16-Apr-2020 By Elaine Watson

Israeli firm Hargol FoodTech – which is blazing a distinct trail in the embryonic edible insect sector by focusing on grasshoppers, rather than crickets – has completed a $3m financing round from existing shareholders, Singapore-based Sirius Venture Capital...

Edible insect startup Cricket One closes seed round: ‘Our job is to develop unique applications’

18-Oct-2019 By Elaine Watson

Vietnamese edible insect startup Cricket One – which processes crickets raised by local cassava farmers in abandoned shipping containers that have been kitted out as intensive breeding units - has closed a seed round led by VC firm 500 Startups and Singapore-based...

Cowboy Cricket Farms to open new edible insect farm in Montana in 2020

01-Oct-2019 By Elaine Watson

While media and investor interest in ‘alternative proteins’ is focused on plant-based meat, cell-cultured meat, and proteins produced via microbes, demand for cricket protein is still growing, claims Cowboy Cricket Farms, which will open a new edible...

Edible insect pioneer Chapul exits bar category (for now), turns attention to new project raising bugs for aquaculture, poultry feed

06-Aug-2019 By Elaine Watson

Edible insect pioneer Chapul – which introduced many Americans to the concept of eating bugs by milling them into powder and adding them to protein bars – has pulled out of the bar category for the time being after its co-packer went out of business,...

WATCH: Edible insect cos that survived 'ruthless winnowing' process, have made 'significant progress,' says Aspire Food Group

17-Jun-2019 By Elaine Watson

Despite the ubiquity of bug consumption in some parts of the world, the tools and techniques to raise and process insects as human food on an industrial scale are still evolving, and there are still no globally agreed standards about how to do it in the...

WATCH: Grasshoppers, not crickets, will drive the edible insect revolution, says Hargol Foodtech

12-Apr-2019 By Elaine Watson

Edible insects were always going to be a slow burn in the alternative protein market, given both the ‘ick’ factor and the lack of infrastructure to farm and process them at scale. But just because investors have been cautious about the sector doesn’t...

Edible insects can create new jobs, stakeholders tell Sen. Jeff Flake: ‘We’re farmers. Please treat us as such’

18-Dec-2018 By Elaine Watson

A bill proposing to tackle government waste which stipulates that “no federal funds may be used for the development of insect-based foods for human consumption,” will make it even harder for the embryonic US edible insects industry to compete vs other...

Cowboy Cricket Farms: Cricket protein powder prices will come down drastically over the next five years

02-Oct-2018 By Elaine Watson

Cricket protein powder prices will come down “drastically” over the next five years as production capacity increases and firms add layers of automation to the farming process, predicts Montana-based Cowboy Cricket Farms.

Surging interest in edible insects prompts safety review

13-Apr-2015 By Niamh Michail

A pan-European list outlining the pros and cons of different insect species, their nutritional content and environmental impact is needed says ANSES.

Does the edible bugs trend have the legs to succeed?

23-Jan-2015 By Nathan Gray

Not a week goes by without media headlines talking about the potential of insects to help feed the world. But where does that potential really lie?