Insects on your plate?

A look at the news - Hélène Lavoyer

This week, a very Swiss event managed not to be overshadowed by the sad news from Barcelona and the Trumpian adventures: the announcement of the start of steaks... of crickets, worms and locusts. «Gross!.

At the barbecue, vegetarians and omnivores spiced up the debate. On one side, there are the «proponents», on the other, the repugs. It's understandable that worms, which are avoided and are more likely to rot, are disgusting. Locusts and crickets, on the other hand, belong in a field.

So much information is circulating about insect or worm-based foods that it's hard to know anything about this diet known as «entomophagy». It's believed that they contain more protein for the same amount of food, that worms will save the world from famine, or that certain economic and environmental concerns will be lightened thanks to these disgusting bugs. Is this convincing information true? Two billion people have made them the staple of their diet. Can they be wrong?

The solution we've been waiting for?

The Food and Agriculture Organization has released a dossier in which it discusses not only the benefits of eating insects, but also why it seems to be «the» solution.

For example, the consumption of meat and fish - the main sources of protein for many people - has grown steadily over the last few decades, to the point where the question now arises: how can we meet this demand? What's more, the environmental cost of these types of production is enormous. The FAO has put insects on the list of foods that could well help annihilate these problems, among peas, algae, mushrooms and even «in vitro» meat.

A European first

Yet the food revolution, which is trying to get off the ground, is struggling (yes, because «it's gross») to create a good following. Switzerland is therefore the first European country to make such ideas available to the public, and despite the sales authorization received in May 2017, it's not until August 21 that Coop has made up its mind. Migros, meanwhile, has yet to make any concrete use of the channel. This is to be expected, given the surveys conducted by the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), in which fewer than 10% of Swiss say they'd be willing to give it a try, although 32% are «not fundamentally opposed» to trying it.

Fortunately, because we've all eaten insects, at least indirectly. Check whether your food contains the food additive E120. Discreet, but very present - in Campari, certain yogurts and M&M's, for example - this coloring agent is made from cochineal, an arthropod native to South America. Some sources report, however, that it is possible to chemically recreate the color produced by dactylopius coccus.

Health first

As disgusting as they are, insects are actually packed with nutrients essential to human beings; their protein and mineral content is high, and some species are a good source of healthy fats. Our hated creatures also contain good quantities of iron and zinc.

And when it comes to health, we're talking about hygiene. While the risks of zoonoses - infections transmitted from animal to human, such as avian flu, Lyme disease and even Ebola - are present in today's intensive farming, they are lower in insect farming. The greatest attention must be paid to cleaning up the environment in which the farm operates. This means, for example, installing cages with holes through which animal droppings pass, so that they don't feed on them, and emptying, disinfecting and replacing the tray where they are deposited. Feed must also attract the breeder's attentive eye: anything left to rot is out of the question.

A response to environmental concerns

Here's the number: eight kilos. That's the amount of food needed to produce just one kilo of beef, whereas only two kilos are needed to harvest one kilo of insect meat. In fact, insects are the «perfect children» of the animal world, because they love almost any kind of food. Goodbye forages, supplements, soy and grass crops! Insects are satisfied with organic waste.

A positive balance sheet, too, in terms of water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The figures on this subject are staggering: where it takes a minimum of 13,500 liters of water to produce a kilo of beef (the number taking into account the water used to produce the animal's feed as well as its own consumption), only a few (between one and eight, depending on the source) will offer an insect steak of the same weight.

The «but» we avoid saying

We sing the praises of insects, but we mustn't forget that they present real risks for humans. First and foremost, as with any foodstuff, there are health risks that we need to be aware of, and which we need to be able to control by implementing strict rules. The main dangers involved in raising insects and worms are physical (i.e., certain parts of the little beasts could be poorly digested or even «broken», such as the sting or rostrum), chemical of course, due to pesticides or organic pollutants that could contaminate the crop, or even to the conditions of rearing and production (packaging, life span of the food). Entomophagous eaters should also pay particular attention to allergens common to all arthropod species, such as molluscs, crustaceans and mites.

In the climate of environmental urgency that has prevailed for decades, many initiatives have been possible. Entomophagy is one of them, and the question deserves to be treated with care, as far away as possible from conventions, formidable barriers to change. Perhaps this time, Switzerland will have been the forerunner of a new regime, and it's certain that the small country will have raised the necessary question of a possible openness of mind... and stomach.

Write to the author: lavoyer.helene@gmail.com

Photo credit: © bril.brussels.be