87
JUN 2017 FOOD FOCUS THAILAND
SPECIAL
INTERVIEW
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Tudnat Chantathan
Chief ExecutiveOfficer
SmileBull MarketingCo., Ltd.
SmileBlueMarketing, the newGenSMEs of foods and innovative snack
products - edible insect snack under thebrand “HiSo” revealedabout the
businessopportunityandsnack trend inThailand inparticular fried insects
that this a kind of traditional snack has greater chance to grow in both
domestic and overseasmarkets.
Following to the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s
announcement that edible insects contain high
quality protein and can be choices for human
consumption.Thishascreatednewphenomena for
edible insect products as many countries have
launched insect-based foods to the markets. For
Thailand, it has long been a source for insect
production, while people have eaten insects for so
long. With rising trend that people are favoring
natural protein, the company has taken this
opportunity to develop edible insect snack with
adding value into variety products in order tomeet
demand of modern consumers.
A Route from Street Food to
Well-packedSnack
Some Thai people like to eat fried insects, but we
rarely found it.Moreover, some fried insects,which
have been sold on street, are not clean, may
combinewithsomedust,anduse lowqualitycooking
oil. Thus, I have initiated an idea to do deep-fried
insects in the well-package as a business. It is
portable, clean, and has good taste. Targeted
markets are consumers who like fried insects and
peoplewhowant to try something new.
In thebeginning, asimplecookingmethodwas
done. Insects were fried in the pan, used cooking
palm oil, and then it was packed in the can and
sealedwithaluminum lid.The twosizesofpackaging
including 50 grams and 100 grams were sold
through stores. At first, the response was not so
good. Later on, the company has observed
consumer’s behavior and found that price and
quantity of the product was too high for buying as
traditionalsnacks.So that thecompanyhaschanged
theproduct sizeandpackaging fromcan tocolorful
pouches,which isportable.Moreover, theproduction
process was developed from a standard room to
sterile room inaccordance to theGMPstandardas
well as using infrared oil-less technology, while
adjust sellingprice to reachmoreconsumers.With
those changes, it has resulted ingood response in
themarket, and sales are doubled.
Quality Insects fromClosed Farm
System
Two kinds of edible insects have been used: silk
worms and crickets. The factory purchased silk
wormsandcrickets from insect farmers indomestic.
Later on, the company has opened its own insects
farm namely “Smile Farm”, which is located at
Amphor Suan Pueng. The farm can serve higher
demand for production and become a prototype
FromFolkSnacktoNewGen’sSnack
farm for interested insect farmers. On one rai of land, it has been allocated to become a closed-farm
system for current insect cultivation. There are quality control and cleanliness system. The insect
cultivation is designed as closed building system; each kind of insect has been separated in each
building installedwith temperaturecontrolledsystem. Imagine, itmay look likecondominiumof insects,
which isamodel of limited farmingarea that hashighefficiency toproducegoodqualityedible insects.
Eachday, farmerswill feed insectswithnatural food suchas pumpkin, leaves, andpapaya leave. The
feeding process is chemical-free so it has low cost, while createhigh yield.
Production andMarket Demand
Currently, the factory can produce 10 tons of fresh crickets per month. It is trend to increase more
production capacity for exporting to theUnitedStates as cricket powder. The crickets is accounted for
70per cent of all cultivations, while silkworms isaccounted for 30per cent for processed snacks. The
cricket powder is highly demanded inoverseasmarketsmainly in theUnitedStates, andEurope such
as in Germany, the Netherlands, and France. Those food manufacturers will use cricket powder as
ingredient for baked food for example; protein bar, cookies, pasta, and other protein supplements, as
well asmixwith other functional food, which aremostly popular health foodproducts.
For domestic market, Thai people normally consume whole-fried insect rather than processed
insects.So,we focusondomesticmarketwhich isaround90per cent.Most consumersare inworking-
aged, students, andundergraduate students, whohave their own style.Meanwhile, adults eat insects
as they know that insects are good source of protein, which does not cause diseases, and have high
nutrition.
Following thepopularity among consumers, the company has developed various flavors of baked
insects to serve domesticmarkets. So far, there are 4 flavors, including original, seaweed, BBQ and
cheese. Twomore flavors that areTomYumandSalt-Chili will be introduced to themarket this year. In
addition, the companywill keeponproductsdevelopment by sprinkling
sesameseeds, bakedascrispsnack, andcoatwithother flavors. In
2017, theproducer isexpected toexpand the internationalmarkets
for this kindof snack tomore countries.
OpportunitiesandChallenges forProcessed
InsectsBusiness
Thechallenge for doingbusiness isnot only toseek for new things
in order to serve consumers demand. On the production side,
producerneeds tostudyaboutsurroundedenvironment factorswhich
canaffecton rawmaterials,weatherwhether it ishotor rain,as itcould
affect onnumber of insects’ eggs ineach season. However, today the
government agenciesandeducational instituteseducateandprovide
suggestions for feeding insect and help increase farmers’ income.
This has created greater opportunities for insect feeding and
producing processed insects for other interested persons as well.
Moreover, many researchers suggest to add value for processed
insects,which it isnot limitedonlyonbaked insects, but also it canbe
producedasotherkindofprocessed foodsuchas ingredient forbaked
snack andetc.
