What do dog and cat owners need to be aware of?
written by Traute Kaufmann 19. Juni 2023
If you enter the terms "barbecue" and "barbecue producers" into the search engines, you currently get suggestions that are linked to the image that the consumer has in mind with these words: The sizzling and roasting of delicious grilled meat and flavoursome vegetables over a charcoal ember or gas-generated heat. So if you want to find out something about the breeding and processing of the insect of the same name, which makes music in the evening, and its conspecifics for the food industry, you have to delve a little deeper into the ocean of the Internet. Then you will learn that the majority of European manufacturers still import these insects as food raw materials from South-East Asia and Canada (1). However, significant insect farms have also been established in the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Austria in recent years. Here are some examples of companies that operate in a niche or on a large scale as insect farms or industrial producers of insects as food or as additives for food or insects as animal feed:
EntoSus: Minced cricket meat instead of minced barbecue meat from Germany
One of them is the EntoSus cricket farm in Bremen (Germany). The small handmade company offers cricket mince as well as cricket sausages, spreads and meat substitutes such as chilli con grilli or grillognese. All made from the domestic cricket (Acheta domesticus). The products are sold directly and via food retailers (2).
Protix: Insect puree for wet and dry dog food and snacks from the Netherlands
One of the largest suppliers to the insect food industry is Protix, which calls itself the "largest insect factory in the world" and has been based in the Netherlands since 2019. Founder and CEO is Kees Aarts, whose mission is described by the Word Economic Forum (WEF) as: "Producer of insect-based ingredients for feed, food and pharmaceuticals, agriculture and livestock, with a small footprint to rebalance the food system" (3). Protix claims to produce protein meals for pets, insect oils for feed and pet food (including for piglets) and puree for dog food, which is offered fresh or frozen as "new, fresh insect meat for wet and dry food and snacks" (4).
Ecofly: Soldier fly larvae as a protein supplier and palm oil substitute from Austria
In Andorf/Schärding (A), the start-up Ecofly is building one of the largest plants in Europe by the end of 2023 with an investment of €6 million. 60 million soldier fly larvae are to be harvested there every day and used as a source of protein for fish and pets, as a fertiliser for agriculture and horticulture and as a palm oil substitute in the cosmetics industry (5).
The industry is growing
The group of EU companies that produce and offer insects as food or insects as food additives is growing. However, the market for insects in food is still in the fermentation phase: it is unclear whether consumers in the EU will accept insect meal and insect paste as new foods and as staple foods and, if so, which sales segments this will affect and what business volumes will result. Insect meal in food is still very new to consumers, the topic is polarising and the broad mass of consumers in Europe feel repelled by it. There is still a certain amount of uncertainty on all sides. This is also reflected on producers' websites, where you get the impression that manufacturers are still not very specific when addressing target groups. The situation is different when it comes to the use of insects as animal feed.
Insect meal as a substitute for fishmeal?
So far, soya, maize and fishmeal have been the main sources of protein for feeding cattle, pigs, chickens and in aquaculture. However, this has a large ecological footprint. Whether and to what extent insect meal may be used as a substitute in the livestock sector in the future seems clear: according to the German Association for Animal Nutrition, insect protein is legally categorised as an animal protein. Insect meal is therefore out of the question for use as cattle feed. However, its use in pig and poultry feed, as well as in fish and pet food, is certainly possible due to the current legal situation (6).
Insects in dog and cat food
Accordingly, dog and cat owners will have to expect insects to be added to their pets' food in future. If you don't want this for your pets, I recommend the InscectInspect.app or InsekteninLebensmitteln.com app, which can be used to reliably check the EAN code or the list of ingredients for such undesirable ingredients. And, of course, the app also works for checking food for mums and dads for unwanted insects such as house crickets, flour beetles, grasshoppers and buffalo worms.
Protect your beloved pets from insects in their food and from allergies and the like
InsectInspect.app reads the ingredients list of your favourite dog and cat food and therefore offers the highest hit rates. The InsectInspect.app is a valuable aid when checking your favourite dog and/or cat food.Scan the EAN code or the ingredients list of the product when shopping and the app will reliably show you whether insects have been added. Unlike comparable apps, InsectInspect.app can read the list of ingredients and is therefore independent of the functionality of the EAN code. This is important because many EAN codes are not stored in official databases such as the Open Food Fact. This is where comparable apps fall short and often display a question mark because they cannot read the ingredients. Insect Inspect.app does not let you down here, which is particularly important for regional foods, as these are not usually stored in official databases. The app is available for both iOS and Android.
Sources:
(1) Hoffmann, S. (19.01.2023). Grillenmehl in Lebensmitteln: EU erlaubt Beimischung von Insektenpulver. GEO. Abgerufen von https://www.geo.de/wissen/ernaehrung/insekten-in-lebensmitteln-jetzt-in-der-eu-zugelassen-33115156.html am 19.06.2023.
(2) EntoSus (2024). Abgerufen von https://www.entosus.de/collections/alle-artikel am 19.06.2023.
(3) WeForum (2024). Abgerufen von https://www.weforum.org/people/kees-aarts am 19.06.2023.
(4) Protix (2024). Abgerufen von https://protix.eu/products_by_protix/#pureex am 19.06.2023.
(5) Ecofly (2024). Abgerufen von https://www.ecofly.at/de/produkte am 19.06.2023.
(6) Deutscher Verband Tiernahrung e.V. (2024). Abgerufen von https://www.dvtiernahrung.de/aktuelles/themen-positionen/tierische-eiweisse am 19.06.2023.
Picture credits:
Katzen-Bild von Florian Bollmann auf Pixabay
Hunde-Leckerli-Bild von Raphael auf Pixabay