Will We Eat Bugs? A French Biotech Firm Thinks So

The controversy over eating bugs largely comes down to whether it's a choice

Products in the edible insect market include whole insects, insect powder, insect meal, and insect oil. Shutterstock

The edible insect industry is booming. And although the thought of eating bugs may be unappealing, insect protein is already being used for aquaculture, livestock feed, pet foods, and some products intended for human consumption. Insects are also being hailed as a possible solution to world hunger as rising populations and limited resources compel food industries and governments to find viable alternatives to meat.

The French biotech firm Ÿnsect has just announced plans to construct a global network of insect farms, significantly ramping up production. Ÿnsect will soon boast the world’s largest vertical insect farm, located in Amiens, France. The company stated that the vertical farm model allows the production of more protein using less space and fewer resources. The automated facility is the second in France, and the company claims that it will manufacture 20,000 tons of insect-based foods annually.

In December 2022, the company announced that it was expanding into the United States and Mexico to build insect ingredient production facilities, pushing into two substantial new markets. Ÿnsect also signed a deal with the U.S. flour milling company Ardent Mills to build a factory next to one of its U.S.-Midwest sites, expanding its reach into new territory.

Insects for Human Consumption

For the past decade, Ÿnsect has produced insects used as nutritional additives in pet foods and to feed fish and livestock. However, that all changed when in early 2021, the European Food Safety Authority declared that mealworms—used whole or as a powder—were deemed safe for human consumption. Ever since, Ÿnsect has been selling powders for baked goods, sports nutrition products, pasta, meat, and meat alternatives—and business is thriving.

Type of Insects

The most popular insects in the edible market intended for humans are black soldier flies, grasshoppers, mealworms, silkworms, and crickets.

Ÿnsect uses two types of mealworms: the beetle larvae of the Molitor mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) and the Buffalo mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus).

The FDA

Back in the United States, we’re already eating bugs, mostly unintentionally. According to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, a certain amount of insect parts are, although not desirable, allowed in the foods that we eat. The FDA’s Defect Levels Handbook states that certain “natural and unavoidable defects” are allowed in our food and don’t pose threats to humans.

For example, any macaroni and cheese product may contain up to 225 insect fragments per 225 grams of food, peanut butter up to 30 insect fragments per 100 grams, and wheat flour up to 75 insect fragments per 50 grams. The FDA categorizes the presence of insect parts in foods as “insect filth.” Other things it allows up to certain levels in our foods are mold, Drosophila fly eggs, and “rodent filth,” which includes hairs and feces.

The list is comprehensive and a sobering reminder that we’re already consuming things we might not have imagined. Simply put, it’s all but impossible to keep these contaminants out of our food entirely.

The FDA has long classified insects as “filth,” but as we usher in a new era of edible insects, it seems that the agency is likely to revise its classification from insects being something it tolerates to something it regulates.

This disconnect was observed in an article by Marie Boyd, a law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. In her article entitled “Cricket Soup: A Critical Examination of the Regulation of Insects as Food,” she explained that although the FDA has devoted significant attention to insects as undesirable defects in human food, it has given little attention to insects as human food.

The USDA

Regardless of the way insects are categorized, the United States is investing in edible insects and has been for some time. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has created a U.S. government interagency working group called the IPWG, which stands for the Insects as Protein Working Group. The group’s mission is to facilitate exploration, coordination, and decision-making around the “burgeoning opportunity” of insect protein in human and animal diets. The group told The Epoch Times that it invested $5 million between 2008 and 2021 in projects related to edible insects.

Political Considerations

Some have expressed concern about the push for those in Europe and North America to adopt insects into our diets and the simultaneous imposition of fertilizer bans in places such as Europe, Canada, and Sri Lanka.

In the Netherlands, the European Union’s largest food exporter, the government is forcing farmers to sell their land to the state unless they reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer they use. Without fertilizer, farmers can’t produce enough food to feed themselves or to export—let alone turn a profit. In the United States, some speculate that a tax on meat may be in our not-too-distant future to incentivize the public to choose foods deemed more sustainable, such as plant-based protein sources and insects.

Some wonder if it’s merely a coincidence that the World Economic Forum (WEF), in a 2023 Global Risks Report, called for a “transition to net-zero, nature-positive food” to fight “food insecurity.” The WEF considers edible insects a zero-emission food. The report states that the WEF calls for “radical policy measures” to encourage the transition to “zero-emissions food.” These statements have raised concerns that new burdens on the cattle and dairy industry will make it difficult for them to survive, which may pave the way for the insect industry to thrive and, ultimately, give less choice to consumers.

Are Insects Healthy for Humans?

The food industry is looking into ways to mass produce insects as a food source for fish and chickens that eat them as a part of their natural diet, but what about how eating bugs might affect humans?

One issue that doesn’t come up in the discussion about edible insects is the effect of eating bugs on human health. And while the benefits seem clear to a planet with an ever-increasing population and food industries that can save costs and resources, we might consider if eating insects is actually good for us and what the consequences might be—especially long-term.

One concern is that there seems to be some uncertainty about whether chitin, an abundant polysaccharide found in the exoskeleton of insects, can be digested by humans and whether it has negative health effects—especially inflammation and triggering the immune response.

A review published in Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology in 2018 states that “mammalians” can’t synthesize chitins and that they are considered a potential target for recognition by the immune system. The study authors wrote that chitins can activate various immune responses, primarily in the lungs and gut, and elicit allergic reactions, raising concerns about their consumption.

The lack of research on the effects of consuming insects on human health makes it challenging to know the long-term consequences, and more investigation is needed to answer this question.

Natural News‘ Mike Adams, a vocal critic of eating insects, recently purchased some edible insect products on Amazon and took microscopy photographs at magnifications ranging from 50X to 300X at his food science lab. Adams purchased three cricket products labeled for human consumption and one for consumption by reptiles. The photos—which look like something out of a horror film—can be seen on the Natural News website.

In the article showcasing the photos, Adams wrote: “While the meat supply chain is being destroyed by governments who claim nitrogen is evil—yes, the very same governments that still claim carbon dioxide is a pollutant even though it’s the pillar of photosynthesis—we’re all being told to eat crickets and mealworms to save the planet.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Adams, but he was unavailable for comment.

Edible Insect Market Projections

Meticulous Market Research projects that the edible insect market will be worth $4.63 billion by 2027. The company also predicts that the edible insect market will grow by 26.5 percent between 2020 and 2027.

Products in the edible insect market include whole insects, insect powder, insect meal, and insect oil. Types of insects included in the analysis are crickets, black soldier flies, and mealworms. Their applications include animal feed, protein bars and shakes, bakery and confectionery products, and beverages.

It’s About Choice

The bigger question might not be whether we‘ll eat bugs but whether we’ll choose to eat them. While some may see insects as an easy win for their ethics around food and the environment, others may find them a glaring imposition made by a wealthy elite who can have their steak and eat it too.

Regarding those fundamental everyday life decisions such as what we eat, choice matters. The benefits of edible insects might be obvious to the food industry looking for more sustainable options, but little attention seems to be paid to the intended consumers of all these bugs—us.

Ultimately, having options when it comes to food seems wise considering the challenges we face, but allowing people the freedom to choose from the available options appears to be the most crucial issue to the people meant to consume them—because no one wants to be forced to eat bugs.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.