Insects in food products are on the rise in Europe: Six out of ten people who tried insect-enriched products rated their taste as “very good”, reveals the EU Consumer Acceptance Survey on Edible Insects published in 2024. Not only can insects be tasty, they can also be a rich source of nutrients and they offer potential for more sustainable food and feed production compared to conventional livestock.
Sounds promising, right? But there are plenty of challenges to be tackled in the production and marketing of insect-based products. The Interreg NWE ValuSect project, led by the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Belgium, dedicated itself to tackling these challenges and to closing knowledge gaps in the production of insects for sustainable food and feed supply.
Hop on the carousel below to learn more about the ValuSect project and the mighty potential of insect-based food and feed for North-West Europe.
Mighty potential of insect-based food & feed
Given the
interesting properties of insects, they can play a pivotal role in supporting circularity
in the agrifood industry and contributing to food security, especially in the
densely populated region of North-West Europe characterised by intensive
agriculture:
Insects such as mealworms, house crickets, migratory locusts and the black soldier fly can efficiently transform agricultural by-products into high-quality nutritional components (such as essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids). For certain insect species these agricultural by-products form a part of their natural diet, making them some of the world’s tiniest upcyclers.
Insects also emit fewer greenhouse gases as compared to conventional livestock (poultry, pigs, cows), and they require less water and space for cultivation. Consequently, insects offer the potential for more sustainable food production. As compared to protein sources like soy for the purpose of feeding livestock, they also perform better in terms of land use, as insects are grown in boxes which are stacked on top of each other.
Important to note: While mealworms, house crickets and migratory locusts are used to make food products, the black soldier fly is only used for feed products.
Background photo: Nikhil Mitra / Unsplash
Mighty challenges of insect-based food & feed
Insect production for food and feed purposes is a recent development in Europe. While insects offer high potential for sustainable cultivation, the following hurdles and knowledge gaps constrain their use in sustainable food & feed products:
- Measuring emissions precisely: Challenges
in measuring the exact emissions of e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous
oxide at realistic scales; and challenges in determining how insect diet
influences emissions.
- Managing
high production costs: Feeding insects as well as harvesting them is done
manually, which makes it a labour-intensive and costly activity. Also, the limited
availability of specialised equipment and installations tailored to insect
farming make production and processing expensive.
- Fostering mutual understanding:
Insufficient understanding of insect
farming, processing, and marketing on the side of
legislators has led to lagging legislation, limiting potential applications. Clear and
standardised regulations tailored to insect-based food & feed production are essential
for fostering industry growth and ensuring food safety and quality.
- Improving marketing: Consumers are curious to try insect-based food products, especially when it comes to snacks, protein bars and burgers or sausages. But to grow the market, one-off tastings need to turn into regular consumption. Developing a mainstream market for insect-based food products requires strategic marketing and promotion efforts.
Background photo: property of the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences
Mighty response of the ValuSect project
The ValuSect project tackled these challenges and successfully:
- developed and
tested 42 technologies, products, services and processes for insect production and marketing in real life conditions, including an emissions room to accurately measure emissions of three different insect species. Click
here for the publication
on mealworm and house
cricket emissions and here for the publication
on black soldier fly emissions. The emissions room is particularly interesting
to accurately determine the climate friendliness of insects as compared to
livestock.
Another step forward was made in quality management: As per the beginning of the project, the quality of intermediate and end products on the market varied greatly, which was one of the major impediments to further develop the sector. Based on this observation, the ValuSect partnership developed standard procedures for research and production to support standardised and high-quality products. - supported a total of 61 companies in the industry: SMEs active in the insect industry had the chance to apply for service
vouchers and receive support in developing their businesses by the ValuSect
partnership. The provided support mainly revolved around insect production,
processing, quality control, emissions, consumer acceptance and marketing. Not
only was this a great opportunity for the ValuSect partnership to apply their
knowledge from literature research and experiments in practice, it also
provided valuable feedback on current challenges from the industry.
- built a network along the
entire value chain of insect production and marketing. To share and disseminate the gained
knowledge and experience from this network, ValuSect developed the knowledge platform
www.valusect.eu, which offers a comprehensive repository of information
relevant to the insect sector. This platform continues to operate beyond the
project's duration in service of different target groups, consolidating data
derived from ValuSect and beyond.
- produced policy briefs and policy papers to make the legal
framework easily understandable for producers and marketers and to make the
role of insects for nutrition and food security understood by legislators.
- connected with consumers, which was key to conduct research on the taste and acceptance of insect-based food products, on shelf life, on relevant marketing strategies and on the motivations of European consumers to include insects in their daily diet or not.
Background photo: property of the Thomas
More University of Applied Sciences
Mighty partnership across countries
And why partner up with organisations from different
countries in North-West Europe to do all this?
The combined networks of all the
partner organisations enabled the project to reach different target groups
covering the full value chain, from insect production and processing to sector
organisations, regional & national authorities and consumers.
Involving private companies and sector organisations enabled the research organisations in the partnership to better consider the economic context and to frame their research around the particular difficulties faced by SMEs in North-West Europe. This also worked in the other direction, as companies from the sector benefited from sound knowledge tailored to their needs, which differed from region to region.
Background photo: property of the Thomas
More University of Applied Sciences
A small step ahead in research & development,
a mighty step forward for insect-based food
Might the next EU Consumer Acceptance Survey on Edible Insects reveal an even brighter outlook for insect-based food products?
We do not know yet, but the ValuSect partnership has certainly put all efforts into fostering the market for insect-based food products in North-West Europe.
How about you? Would you try food based on insects and if yes, which type of food? Let us know in the poll below.
Background photo: Pexels / Pixabay