46
JAN 2017
FOOD FOCUSTHAILAND
STRATEGIC
R & D
Whyshould you consider insects as your daily food?
Indeed, insectsconstitute themain terrestrialanimalbiomasson theplanet
and so could (should) be represented at an equivalent level in our plate.
This remainshowever far from reality.Thailand, leader ofSouth-EastAsia
regardingamountandhistoryof insects’consumption, isalreadyon itsway
to become theworld leader.
Fromcricketpasta tocookies throughenergybarsproduced inThailand,
the country has already a range of choices to supply your daily food
amount anddiversity.More thana food, it is evena super-food, providing
recognizedhighamount of nutrients, fromessential aminoacidsand fatty
acids to highly health impactful vitamins and minerals, i.e iron, vitamin
B12 andmanymore.
Themovement to sustainable protein alternative and innovative food
products ishappeningworldwidewithanexponentially increasingnumber
of insects’companies in theEuropeanUnionandNorthAmerica.However,
themost favorable conditions for the insect as food first produced specie,
the cricket, appear to be located in tropical countries, illustratedwith 4 to
5 foldprice level difference for thecricket flour.The latter constitutes today
We, theworldpopulation,arecurrently ina transition
phase: switching from an exponential increase of
productionandconsumptionusingenvironmentally
negatively impactful food production models with
a population expected to reach 9.7 billion people
in 2050 (source: FAO) to a sustainable resource
efficient system, it ismore than time to adapt and
change from an anthropocentric approach, where
we try to adapt our environment to our behavior.
themain insectprocessed foodproduct,easy toaddas food ingredient
to common food items, bringing functional and nutritional properties,
but alsoan often reported nutty taste.
This isnotan insect revolution,buta foodrevolution.
Have you ever heard about food waste? In Bangkok only, about
4,100 tons of food is wasted on a daily basis (source: FoodWaste
Management in Bangkok, 2014), from the plate you will not finish
for dinner today to the expired food from your nearby supermarket.
Whereaswearecurrently lookingat increasing theproduction tosupply
our increasingpopulation,sparing the thirdof the foodweproduceand
currentlywaste isnot yet the toppriority.Maybebecausesparingand
preserving resourcesdoesnot yetprovideenoughfinancial resources
compared to productionand resource utilization.
In any case, increasing our food production and consumption
efficiency is needed to sustain. Slow but real, changes are coming,
with the look for limitedmeat consumptionand increaseof sustainable
fooduse.Algae, insects, plant protein, oftenoverlooked,may beone
solution forasustainableandenjoyable futureofournextgenerations.
Trade andEURegulations
Insectsas food: Thismay sound like theweirdest idea youhaveever
heardbut itmight alsobe themost relevant,with insectsbeingoneof
themost resourceefficient foodsource,beforecows,poultryorswine.
Leadingcountries in theworldhaveaculturalacceptanceof insects
withanatural regular consumption, even if nationallyheterogeneous,
like in Mexico or Thailand. In Europe, insects as food products
are appearing on dining tables since a couple of years. Seen as a
sustainable foodsourcebutalsoas trendy foodproduct, it ismoreand
more accepted once the “yuck” factor has been overcome. The term
attributed toArthurCaplan,wasfirst introduced todefine the influence
of instinctive responses against new technology (source: Ethical
aspects of insect production for food and feed. Journal of Insects as
Food and Feed, M. Gjerris et al. 2016). It today comprises a general
disgustdescription regarding theperceptionof insects,mostlyattributed
to western populations. However, the lack of background regarding
insectsmay in facthaveapositive impacton itsacceptance inwestern
countries,ascustomersarekeeneron trying innovative foodproducts.
Insect...
asaFutureFood
andtheEUNovelFoodRegulations
PhotoCourtesy of "TheChef andTheBug, 25
th
October 2015"
PhotoCourtesy of "TheChef andTheBug, 25
th
October 2015"
