Singapore insect approval to bolster sustainable proteins but mainstream adoption will take time, says scientist

William Chen, director of NTU's Food Science and Technology Program (Image credit: NTU).

07 Aug 2024 --- The Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) recent permission to import insects and insect products belonging to species of “low regulatory concern” marked a significant chapter in the country’s food sector, which depends highly on food imports. Food Ingredients First sits down with Professor William Chen, director of Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Food Science and Technology Program in Singapore, to understand the approval’s impact on food security, R&D and consumer acceptance of insects in mainstream diets.

The SFA has also completed a regulatory framework that includes guidelines that businesses should meet if they intend to import, farm or process insects into food for human consumption or animal feed.

How do you decide which insects can be eaten and which cannot?
Chen: Insects can be categorized into two main classes: edible and not. What the SFA has approved are those edible insects that are not caught in the wild. So we’re talking about insects that are properly farmed under controlled environments and are a proper nutrient and a feedstock. More importantly, most of these edible insects that have been approved have a history of human consumption, so therefore, the risk of food safety is minimal.

What trends have you observed over the years regarding insect consumption, and how have consumer preferences evolved?
Chen: Edible insects have been part and parcel of our early diet for a thousand years. And now, with changing practices, industry development and urbanization, eating insects has become a not-so-mainstream diet. Over time, due to the development of animal farming, we have more and more sources of animal protein in our diet. People eat them more out of curiosity, as a delicacy, like in Japan. But in other parts of the world, like Thailand or Africa, eating insects is still part of their diet, although it is not the main part.

Insects are consumed as a delicacy in countries in Japan and are a part of diets in Thailand and Africa.As a result, the sector is evolving, but consumers may not be so familiar with eating insects anymore, so we need to consider gaining consumer acceptance of edible insects. Not all consumers can associate insects with mainstream diets, but we ought to know that eating insects can be a very sustainable and viable option, not just for environmental sustainability but also for consumers’ nutrition requirements.

What are the benefits of insect farming over other sources of sustainable proteins?
Chen: When we talk about edible insects, how we procure them, and whether we have sufficient edible insects to satisfy consumer needs, we are talking about the ease of developing insect farming as compared to other types of urban solutions like cultivated meat or plant-based material for alternative food sources. Insect farming, in contrast, will not need sunlight, so it’s an energy-efficient and resource-efficient type of urban farming. It also needs a lot less water than any type of urban farming solutions.

On top of that, they can also grow vertically, so it’s space efficient. To make insects part and parcel of our diet, which consumers can accept, my suggestion will be to introduce or reintroduce edible insects into our diet gradually, meaning that if consumers are skeptical of eating the whole insect in the diet, maybe we can use the insect protein for the edible insect protein as a replacement or fortification of current processed food.

How can manufacturers introduce insect protein in processed foods to overcome the “yuk” factor associated with them?
Chen: They can introduce insect protein into pasta or other processed foods to enhance nutritional value. Consumers are very practical. If they think the price point is reasonable and the taste is not too different from what they used to eat, then the chances are they will accept this novel food.

Dr. Chen talks to us about insect proteins as a cost-effective and sustainable food source.To begin with, we should gradually introduce edible insect protein into our diet. Once consumers are used to this new addition of nutrition source, they will likely be more open-minded toward them. Also, the focus should not be on labeling edible insects in any particular food product. Rather, emphasize the nutrition part, as nutrition enhancement for edible insects is proven to be safe. This will be one way to start.

What role does insect protein play in food security?
Chen: Edible insect protein will provide us with a sustainable and cost-effective way of supplying animal protein. Climate change, extreme weather conditions, and heat not only affect the animal farm but also, in general, the food system, so we ought to have more options. We talk about the development of cultivated meat and plant-based meat, which are good but have one drawback — the cost.

Insect farming will be overall resource-efficient. It does not need electricity, so energy consumption will be low, and it is easy to develop and maintain. The only thing we need to consider is integrating these insect production and farms and then converting them into a common processing place so that we will have a sustainable supply of insects.

But, the insect is not a silver bullet to solve food security challenges. We also need to remember that the proper food safety risk assessment for edible insects should be carried out properly. For example, substances in the prawn shell, and shellfish can cause allergic reactions in some consumers. So, we advise consumers to assess their own condition to see whether they are suitable to take this edible insect in their diet.

Is the NTU focusing on any insect protein innovations?
Chen: NTU has very strong research capabilities in upcycling food processing side stream, like a soybean residue, which have a high nutrition value profile, and they are suitable to be insect feed. So, instead of developing insect farms in Singapore, where we do not have the proper grass to feed the insects, we can look in the country for proper feedstock to develop sustainable, nutritious, edible insects as our future food source.

Insect farming is a resource-efficient method of creating sustainable proteins since it uses less water and no electricity.Another contribution of NTU will be from the Singapore Future Ready Food Safety Hub to characterize edible insects’ risk assessment. We know that a particular protein is responsible for shellfish allergic reactions, and it can be degraded through some natural process. We are applying this process to the insect protein to see whether we can also reduce the risk of developing allergic reactions in consumers.

How do you predict future insect protein advancements to shape up?
Chen: My perspective on the role of edible insects is that, although it is a sustainable and cost-effective way of getting animal protein for nature, it will not be a part of our mainstream diet in the foreseeable future as, similarly to other types of alternative food. Edible insects will be a new option to diversify our food source, therefore addressing our food security challenges and making our food system more resilient to environmental changes.

By Insha Naureen

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