Insecta Schnitzel – the food industry fighting world hunger and climate change simultaneously

 

 

By R. vd Meer

The thought of eating grinded buffalo worms will make many people feel sick. The Insecta Schnitzel, produced by a Dutch company called Damhert Nutrition NV, is a meat substitute based on buffalo worms. The key message of Damhert is “Lover our planet” and therefore they think about the future and the welfare of animals. Choosing for this schnitzel has multiple benefits;

• Environmental friendly – you need fewer raw materials and energy to produce these schnitzels, resulting in lower CO2 emissions
• Low in fat, high in protein – buffalo worms contain high amounts of protein and low amounts of fat, which makes it an healthy option
• Affordable – although the Insecta schnitzel is a luxury product, buffalo worms and other insects are a cheap source of essential nutrients
• Tasty – the taste of the Insecta schnitzel is delicious, so no need to compromise on taste when you want to do good for your body and the environment

Although you might still not be convinced about substituting your wiener schnitzel for this Insecta schnitzel, please give it a try when you go to the store to get your groceries. Besides Damhert selling their products via their own website, supermarket chains in for example the Netherlands included this product in their offering.

The food industry and sustainability goals

Damhert NV seems a pioneer with marketing new and innovative products focusing on more goals than just profit maximization. Many of the big food companies consolidated over the past years to drive up sales and to adapt to changing consumer needs in the food industry. Key goal for most of these companies is still shareholder value, although multiple corporate social responsibility initiatives are launched. One example is Kellog, that has been fighting hunger for over 30 years  with their Breakfasts for Better Days initiative. The company donated 1 billion servings of cereal and snacks in support of global hunger relief at the end of 2016. Another example is Yum! brands that started the World Hunger Relief campaign as the largest outreach campaign on the hunger issue. Their campaign raised  $100 million for WFP since 2007, with the help of global spokesperson Christina Aguilera. Many other companies take part in WFP and donate money to the cause.  At the contrary, it seems that various corporate social responsibility actions are well packaged marketing actions. Moreover, all big food companies are listed and have obligations towards their shareholders and other stakeholders. Consequently, big food companies take too little action with regards to the reduction of sugar in their products (improve health), make food available at a discount in developing countries (fight hunger) or produce in a more ecological friendly way (climate control). I think it is time for the food industry to unite and make the “zero hunger” sustainable development goals their joint aim for the next 5-10 years. Moreover, in doing so they should rethink what they produce, in order to control climate change and keep the world population healthy and the way how they produce to save the environment.

World hunger

At this day and age, 795 million people worldwide were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016; on average 1 out of 9 people does not have access to enough food. 98% of all those people live in developing countries and Asia is the continent with the highest number of people that face this problem (526 million people in total in Asia and Oceania).  Hunger is the world’s no 1 health risk and it kills more people every year than Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis combined.

The good news is that world hunger is a problem that can be solved. Even today, there is enough food available worldwide, to feed the entire world population without any need of scientific breakthroughs. Available knowledge, infrastructure and policies, combined with political will could be the solution to this problem. If nations and companies start to work together to abandon hunger and invest in sustainable food solutions, productivity will increase and economic opportunities will arise. These economic opportunities will work as a catalyst to drive the change, when new businesses disrupt the industry and established players are forced to change.

Although good progression in fighting hunger is made during the 80’s and 90’s, the progression stagnated during the last decade. It’s time for action!

Climate impact and health

Whereas we have world hunger as a problem in the developing world, changing customer needs in the western world are causing climate change. Growing food for the world’s burgeoning population is likely to send greenhouse gas emissions over the threshold of safety, unless more is done to cut meat consumption according to research led by Oxford Martin School. The researchers argue that in three decades, emissions related to agriculture and food production are likely to account for about half of the world’s available “carbon budget” (the limited amount of carbon dioxide and its equivalents that can be poured into the atmosphere in order to hold global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.  The proposed solution is eating less meat, or turning into vegetarians.

Turning vegetarian has, next to benefits for the environment, benefits for you as an individual too. Next to the self-esteem you might extract from caring about the environment, not eating meat is also healthier for you. A growing base of studies shows that (especial red) meat is associated with health issues. Dr. Marco Springmann, lead author of the study, entitled Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change co-benefits of dietary change, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Tuesday, says the following: “Imbalanced diets, such as diets low in fruits and vegetables and high in red and processed meat, are responsible for the greatest health burden globally and in most regions. At the same time, the food system is responsible [currently] for more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore a major driver of climate change”

  

The solution; insects as a primary source of nutrients

Eating insects is sustainable, since it has multiple benefits over eating meat. The most important arguments are as follows:

• Lower CO2 emission – since insects are cold-blooded, they don’t convert foot into body heat. Therefore, to rear 1 kg of insects, you need way less feed compared to rearing 1 kg of meat. For example, for 1 kg of chicken meat, you need 4 kg feed, for 1 kg beef, you need 10 kg and for 1 kg boffola worms you need 3 kg. This results in lower farm manure and consequently lower CO2 emissions;
• Space – a growing demand for meat in especially India and China, results in an enormous pressure on farmland. Since rearing insects uses less space, this alternative reduce the need for additional farmland;
• Healthy – based on a research by the university of Ghent, eating insects is a healthy alternative for eating meat. Insect based products contain large amounts of proteins and vitamins and are very low on fat. Lastly, eating insects results in a lower transmission of viruses compared to eating meat;
• Affordable – Since the production of insect based products requires less farmland and less feed, the production is cost-effective. Moreover, investments to start a farm/production facility to breed insects are low;
• Animal health – killing insects is more animal welfare friendly than butchering chickens, pigs or cows. Many producers of eatable insects use a two-step approach. They first get the insects into hibernation state by lowering the temperature. In the second step they lower the temperature even further (freezing), which results in the insects to stop living.

 

Risks and costs

 

To solve world hunger, insects offer a great opportunity. However, the main risk I see is that it will be hard to change eating habits in the Western world. People have to give up eating meat and choose for insects. If the Western society is not adapting new food, it will be hard for business to jump in and start producing, because there will be no market for it; the Western world won’t buy and the developing world can’t buy.  Therefore I think it is important to start educating the Western world about the opportunities. Companies should offer a tasty, healthy and affordable product, in order for the Western society to consider adding insects to their diets. Once there is significant market demand, companies can and will jump in due to economic opportunities. If sufficient scale is reached and initial investments are made, it becomes easier to use these products to fight world hunger.

Another risk I see is the role food companies play. First of all these companies have a lot of power, since they have a pivotal role in our society, are of enormous size and have almost unlimited resources (money). Secondly, in order for them to drive this change, they have to alter the behavior of their customers. However, if they just keep the behavior unchanged, they will be able to keep sales up and make money. Lastly, these companies are all listed and focus on shareholder returns. If there is market demand for certain products and they can make money with it, there is not incentive to change their product portfolio and think about world hunger, climate change and or health benefits.

A third risk is the development of for example India and China. Growing wealth results in a growing demand for meat.  At first I would argue that the wealthier we get on average, the easier it should be to tackle world hunger. However, given inequalities and the distribution of wealth, this is probably not the case. As part of the world is getting richer, the demand for meat will grow and the demand for cheaper options like insects will be minimal. As argued above, if there is no market for these products, the necessary innovations and investments will not be made and we stay at the current status quo. This in turn will result in a less healthy population, climate change and hunger in certain parts of the world.

 We already eat insects, let’s eat more!

Let us start a food revolution and try out the Insecta schnitzel. And for those who say they don’t eat insects, please think twice. Because as you might not know, insects are used in various processed foods we are all familiar with and we all most likely have eaten:

• Waxcoating for fruits and bonbons are made of lice
• M&Ms , strawberry yoghurt and milkshakes are colored with lice
• Pre-packed food contains parts of insects, because it is impossible to remove all of it from the raw inputs

It’s not about trying insects; it is about incorporating it in our daily diets. In this way we will benefit ourselves with an healthy and affordable alternative for meat. Simultaneously, we help others by creating a solution for world hunger and minimizing climate change.