On December 25th, Christmas Day, Sky News promoted the idea that in the not too distant future many family’s traditional Christmas banquet will probably be replaced with insects to eat instead of the normal meats, also forecasting that Easter may perhaps be the first real start of this.
Sky News focuses on a new company called Origin Foods that is based in Cambridge, who says they wish to cultivate insects like mealworms, flies, and other creepy crawlies by feeding them the large excess of food waste, so that the insects are nutrient dense and inadvertently reduce carbon emissions.
Sky News explains more about this potential new venture:
Whether a traditional turkey or a meat-free nut roast, there’s plenty that goes into making a good Christmas dinner.
But while competition at the supermarket or your local butcher is always high ahead of the festive season, this year winds down against the backdrop of warnings of an impending UK food supply crisis.
A shortage of eggs, farmers say, could be just the start – so while your highly anticipated Christmas dinner may be spared from what’s to come, Easter lunch may not be so lucky.
Thankfully, there is a potential solution all around us – some of them are crawling beneath our feet, others buzzing around above our heads.
And before you say “bah, humbug”, I’m not about to suggest you replace your lovingly prepared roast with insects.
Better Origin, based in Cambridge, wants to make food waste part of the supply chain. Given the United Nations estimates 17% of global food production is thrown away, there’s plenty to go round.
Here is where insects come in: feeding them that waste can transform them into a nutritious alternative to the carbon-intensive soya and grains commonly used to feed livestock.
The way to view this is insect protein.
The reason it’s great and nutritious is their amino acid profile is very similar to meat. That could replace any form of animal protein in other parts of the food supply chain.
Fotis Fotiadis, Better Origin’s chief executive, says
How Does This New Supply Chain Work?
The ethos of the supply chain is using technology to mimic nature, converting waste back into food.
While you would likely not dream of eating a rotten apple, in nature it could re-enter the food chain – either by being consumed as is, or decomposed by bacteria and built back up.
The system is not sustainable or secure – as proven by the pandemic and Russia’s invasion.
We need to […] shift from linear to circular. If waste becomes part of the input, you become more independent.
Mr Fotiadis, says
Better Origin has developed what it describes as an “automated factory in a shipping container”, with waste and insects stored in one end for them to consume. Once built up, they can be fed to animals.
There is already a real world example, as Morrisons launched a line of “carbon-neutral eggs” by feeding hens on its farms with black soldier fly larvae that have been fed with waste.
It’s a win-win for everyone in the supply chain,
Says Mr Fotiadis, with AI-driven algorithms used to completely automate the feeding process inside the containers.
Morrisons has been provided with 10 of the “insect mini-farms”, saving an estimated 3,000 tonnes of food waste and 2,810 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
How Will It Go Beyond Eggs?
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your insect-powered Christmas dinner (unless you do just eat bugs instead of your roast, I guess).
Better Origin is working with regulators to expand the amount of food types they can feed to insects, beyond the existing fruit, vegetables, and bakery waste.
The ambition is to repeat the “insect protein” feeding strategy for other animals, and the company’s plan has the backing of the University of Cambridge.
So while you may never want “all the trimmings” to include crickets, flies and mealworms, it may not be long before they play a big part in getting your usual favourites on to the dinner table.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; [3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. [4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: [5] For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:1-5
I find also interesting that Sky News made a big stink about the egg shortages, in a year when the CDC claims that this has been the worst year on record for avian flu, and the former Director says the ‘great’ pandemic of bird flu “Will” be the next one to massively depopulate the world…
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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