HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish bakery and food service company Fazer launched on Thursday what it said was the world’s first insect-based bread to be offered to consumers in stores.
The bread, made from flour ground from dried crickets as well as wheat flour and seeds, contains more protein than normal wheat bread. Each loaf contains about 70 crickets and costs 3.99 euros ($4.72), compared with 2 to 3 euros for a regular wheat loaf.
“It offers consumers with a good protein source and also gives them an easy way to familiarize themselves with insect-based food,” said Juhani Sibakov, head of innovation at Fazer Bakeries.
The demand to find more food sources and a desire to treat animals more humanely have raised interest in using insects as a protein source in several Western countries.
Dried crickets which are ground into flour to make the bread
“I don’t taste the difference ... It tastes like bread,” said Sara Koivisto, a student from Helsinki after trying the new product.
Due to a limited supply of crickets, the insect-bread will initially only be sold in 11 Fazer bakery stores located in Helsinki region hypermarkets, but the company plans to offer it in all 47 of its stores by next year. The company buys it's cricket flour from the Netherlands but is looking for local suppliers. Fazer, a family business with sales of about 1.6 billion euros last year, did not give a sales target for the product.
Insect-eating, or entomophagy, is common in much of the world. The United Nations estimated last year that at least 2 billion people eat insects and more than 1,900 species have been used for food.
In Western countries, edible bugs are gaining traction in niche markets, particularly among those seeking a gluten-free diet or wanting to protect the environment because farming insects uses less land, water and feed than animal husbandry.
As climate change reduces the kinds of crops we can grow, we will turn to alternative food sources more and more. So get used to the idea friends. And did you know there is a great new recipe for crispy mealworm bread ??
I don't think I could willing eat the bread , there are people that like froed and stewed crickets ... to each there own .
ReplyDeleteThe bread may be very tasty , it has the meat so all you need is mayo and you have a sandwich . A CMS ) hahahaha!!
love Witchy
Funny Witchy...hahaha! Some day you may be grateful for a cricket sandwich. Protein is protein
ReplyDeleteLove you girl