USDA supports insect farming research

RESEARCH has begun this month in the first U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded project to focus on insect farming for human consumption.

Crickets (Acheta domesticus) are one of 2,000 species being consumed worldwide, according to the United Nations. Producing the same amount of protein as cattle, as much calcium found in milk, and a source of vitamins and minerals, they are touted as a healthy sustainable food source for a fast-growing population.  

One of the major products is cricket powder, a flour-like material made from finely ground crickets which has found its way into many foods like baked goods. To date, some 25 U.S. and Canadian companies produce consumer products with cricket powder.

Farmers produce cricket powder manually, so labor costs account for a good percentage of the selling price which is more than $25 per pound. To reduce production costs, boost efficiency and lower price altogether, the Georgia-based company All Things Bugs LLC aims to apply automation in cricket farming. This will be the thrust of the research being funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The USDA will provide US$100,000, the third grant that All Things Bugs has received from the USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The company will use it to improve harvesting, watering and feed formulations.

"In order for this growing industry to fulfill its potential, innovations must help cricket farmers raise these 'minilivestock' more efficiently and thus drive down prices for the food industry. Ultimately crickets and other insects will be the lowest cost animal-based protein on the market," said All Things Bugs' founder and lead researcher on the project, Dr Aaron T. Dossey.

The company’s earlier project on the use of insect ingredients in helping alleviate child malnutrition has been funded by the Gates Foundation. This project and grant from Bill and Melinda Gates led Dr Dossey to set up All Things Bugs.

The USDA SBIR has funded the company’s project on developing a "ready to use food" from insect ingredients and insect processing techniques as well as research on how to refine a patent pending technology on manufacturing cricket powder and evaluating its functionality as a safe food ingredient.  

In 2014, the company became the largest insect based food producer in the world, selling about 10,000 pounds of cricket powder in its first year of operation. This year, it expects to sell approximately 25,000 pounds.

The results of Dr Dossey’s were presented at 2015 Institute of Food Technologists conference and Expo in Chicago.