KEY INTERVIEW: Proti-Farm Ramps Up Production of the Lesser Mealworm for Human Consumption

In 2013 the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization stressed that a new approach to food production was crucial if we are to avoid future shortages. Their suggestion was edible insects. It is their sustainability credentials that has lead the UN to highlight insects as the potential future of food, requiring minimal resources to farm and producing substantially less waste than conventional livestock.

Proti-Farm is the world’s leading producer of edible insects. They are based in The Netherlands and with the acquisition of Kreca in 2014 they are in the insect producing business since more than 35 years. The company group started with over ten different insect species for the animal feed industry, however since 2007, the group is producing edible insects for human consumption.

 

FoodIngredientsFirst spoke with Heidi de Bruin, (pictured) CEO of Proti-Farm Holding NV, who explains why Proti-Farm chose Kreca to further insect production: “When I started to write the business plan for Proti-Farm, I quickly realized that I needed two things, an enormous amount of money and an insect farm which has been around for some time. As Kreca has 35 years of experience it was an easy decision to make. We also didn’t want to move out of Europe, so with our R&D, the existing farm and technologies both ourselves and Kreca had the facilities to scale up production in house.”

 

To continue serving the ongoing increasing demand for food insect ingredients, Proti-Farm is currently scaling up their facilities by concentrating on their flagship species of the lesser mealworm. “Soon we will produce thousands of tons of wet larvae and we will expand our facilities worldwide,” explains de Bruin, “The demand for insects as food ingredient (whole insects, protein powder and edible oil) is increasing rapidly, our worldwide customer base keep asking for more.”

 

The industry needs continuous and guaranteed and safe supply of these food ingredients and only a few suppliers are able to scale up the insect production. Recently Proti-Farm has been HACCP certified for the lesser mealworm which guarantees strict regulations in terms of safety and track and trace of the materials. Proti-Farm is proud of its customers who have and are currently developing high quality protein based products for the food industry.

 

“Presently, insects for human nutrition are our focus,” say de Bruin. “We are delivering four types of insects, two types of mealworms, grasshopper and house crickets, for human consumption, production of the protein powder and purified oil from the lesser mealworm is more manageable on a larger scale. We are the only farm in Europe with such a big range of insect products bread and reared in a controlled environment.”

 

Prices of manual production of all four types of insects are still high, but by concentrating on one species of lesser mealworm, Proti-Farm will be able to scale this production up by thousands of tons per year and so the price will be competitive.

 

De Bruin also says: “We are a premium high quality, ingredient producer, we are the ones who are producing the ingredient and our customers make products of it. But we sell them to the food and pharma industry and they use these as an ingredient to develop their own products.”

 

“After developing an in house system for specific breeding and rearing methods, we are now able to produce the lesser mealworm on a large scale using our own automated high-tech technologies,” says de Bruin. “Demand for high quality and natural protein is taking a tremendous height right now. We were mostly in the 90-95% in the animal feed nutrition space but now we are split 60/40 (human consumption being 40) so we are seeing a shift from animal food to human food.

 

So what trends are the driving forces behind such a huge demand for edible insects? “Natural and healthy foods,” confirms de Bruin. “We don’t use any antibiotics, any pesticides, or hormones in our facilities our insects are non-GMO and can be produced gluten free, so what is obvious is the trend for healthy and natural products, which are not modified in any way, shape or form.”

 

She adds: “Insects are keen source of high grade protein and healthy fats, vitamins and minerals but of course the sustainability factor is very important as well. If we look at the conversion rates of insects and the way in which we can produce them, they are very sustainable, they have almost no methane or greenhouse gas emissions.”

 

“However, in the end it’s the health and natural factor that wins, together with the great taste,” states de Bruin. “Insects are a very natural ingredient for end products and high protein, they have all nine essential amino acids which the body cannot produce itself, it needs to be taken from external sources. Plant proteins do not have all nine, insect protein does and your body will feel the nutritional gains.”

 

Do insects pose any issues around allergies? “Since producing insects for human consumption in 2007 we have never had any issues or recall on any of Proti-Farm produce,” explains de Bruin. “However, there has been some R&D investigations that might suggest that if you are allergic to crustaceans or shellfish, it could be that you are allergic to insects.

 

“So we currently label all our products very clearly,” she adds.

 

“An allergen will only show up if you have already eaten a lot of it, and because insects are quite new to the food industry, we have to see how it progresses over the next couple of years. We have invested a lot on lab reporting and so far we haven’t detected any allergens in the lesser mealworm, this is where we do all the research for,” claims de Bruin.

 

“We’ve had to focus on one insect, the lesser mealworm, and by doing so we are able to produce and deliver safe and premium quality ingredients,” she confirms. “And as one out of a few companies in the Netherlands who are able to breed and sell insects for human consumption, our grasshoppers and crickets do very well too.”

 

In terms of production, de Bruin notes the importance of following the rules and regulations which makes Proti-Farm HACCP certified. “We must comply with hygiene and safety regulations, in order to get the most out of production in the factory.”

 

What is the biggest challenge for breeding and producing such large quantities of insects? “The real challenge is time to scale up the production of insects,” say de Bruin. “When we have the first automated factory life expected in early 2017, we are going to rapidly roll out these factories worldwide so we can keep up with the demand in the market.  After we have the first factory we plan to expand into Asia Pacific, as we are working there with local partners from Malaysia and Thailand who are very interested our goal. There is a huge demand and we will produce tens of thousands of tons of insects in the next couple of years.”

 

Breeding and rearing on this large scale for food has never been done before,” say de Bruin. “There are initiatives in South Africa, The Netherlands and Canada for animal feed, and by certifying our factories we have to make sure that we abide by all the rules and regulations.

 

Where does de Bruin hope to see Proti-Farm in the future? “I would love to have a couple of Proti-Farms in each country of the world,” she beams, “One hundred factories in the next couple of years worldwide to produce high grade quality insects, it isn’t sustainable to transport food, therefore it needs to be produced locally. I think it is possible as the demand is tremendous and the sustainability factor is strong.”

 

Proti-Farm currently has 65 workers and will likely double employees in the next few years for production and operations. “With the growth of the factories the work force needs to grow,” adds de Bruin, “We also are part of initiatives like in Uganda and Kenya called the Flying Food Project where we teach local people on how to breed crickets for their own consumption and make a small business of it.”

 

“We also want to work with local people to help out farmers, to help them supply and breed insects for their own protein and sustainability needs.”

 

De Bruin ends with her favorite statement: “Proti-Farm is feeding the world, without consuming the earth!”