Crickets, Mealworms, and Locusts, Oh My!

Humans have consumed insects since prehistoric times. More than 80% of the world’s population consumes insects, but in some countries eating insects is not culturally acceptable or allowed. Developed countries, specifically Western countries, have only recently begun investigating the use of insects as human food or food ingredients. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been working on topics pertaining to edible insects worldwide since 2003 and published a detailed report in 2013 titled “Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security.”

Crickets are among the more than 1,900 species of insects eaten by various cultures around the world and are said to be a potentially sustainable and environmentally friendly source of high-quality protein to meet the needs of the world’s growing population. Aaron T. Dossey, founder of All Things Bugs LLC (ATB), Athens, Ga. (allthingsbugs.com), the world’s largest producer of cricket powder, said that production of insects, which he calls “mini-live-stock,” requires less feed, water, land, and energy to produce than any other form of livestock and that their production generates substantially lower environmental pollutants such as pesticides and greenhouse gases. Crickets create 4.4 times more protein output per feed input. They contain numerous essential nutrients such as vitamin B12, riboflavin, and vitamin A; are particularly high in omega-3 fatty acids; and can be farmed in an industrial setting efficiently and free from environmental toxins and pathogens. 

ATB develops insect-based food and feed products, insect-farming technologies, and insect-derived biologically active chemical compounds for use in food, agriculture, and medicine. Dossey began research and development on cricket methods and products in 2011 and in March 2012 received a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a sustainable eco-friendly food product to eliminate malnutrition in children in famine-stricken areas of the world. The project involved developing several prototypes of ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) based on crickets and mealworms and looking at the nutrient content of other insects such as Caribbean fruit flies and grasshoppers. 

In June 2013 he received a $100,000 phase I grant from the Small Business Innovation Research Program of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) to further develop a ready-to-use food from insect ingredients and insect processing techniques. The project resulted in RUTF formulations, a cricket powder process, a filing for a patent on powder processes and chitin-removal processes, and commercialization of the technology. In September 2014 he received a $450,000 phase II grant from the USDA to refine the technology for manufacturing cricket powder and evaluate its functionality as a safe food ingredient. The project involves developing pastas, tortillas, alternative meats, and other foods with crickets, mealworms, and waxworms; doing shelf-life testing on cricket powder and product development work with crickets, mealworms, and waxworms; and conducting safety testing of cricket powder. 

In June 2015 he received a $100,000 grant from the USDA to improve efficiency, economics, and scale of farming crickets for human food. The company will use the grant to study how to increase automation in raising crickets. It will focus on harvesting, watering, and feed formulations with the goal of enhancing growth of crickets while lowering the cost of raising them, which in turn can decrease the price of cricket powder. About 25 companies in the United States and Canada are producing consumer products with cricket powder, and several industrial farms are raising crickets for human consumption. Farming these insects around the world is primarily manual, Dossey said, with labor costs, in particular, keeping the price of cricket powder relatively high. 

ATB made its first production run in January 2014, produced and sold approximately 10,000 pounds of cricket powder that year, and will produce at least 25,000 pounds in 2015. The company manufactures and sells its Finely Milled Whole Cricket Powder wholesale to food companies as well as in one-pound bags via its website. The cricket powder is made from house crickets (Acheta domesticus) that the company buys from established, reputable, and clean cricket farms—primarily Armstrong Cricket Farm, the oldest cricket farm in the United States. 

The company obtains frozen whole crickets; grinds them to a particle size of 100 microns or lower; and pasteurizes, spray dries, and packages the powder for distribution to food and feed manufacturers. The crickets are ground and pasteurized wet, as a slurry/liquid, which helps reduce the heat required to kill microbes and dry the product and allows for use in standard food processing equipment. The process has a high production efficiency and throughput, Dossey said, and involves milder treatment of the insect material than roasting and grinding, which most other manufacturers of insect ingredients are doing. The resulting powder has a mild aroma, no detectable insect parts, a low moisture content, and a long shelf life. It is finely milled so it can mix with other ingredients without affecting their texture and flowability through food equipment. It also works in beverages such as protein shakes.