While some pets and fish already feed on insects, Brussels must decide on the authorization to feed pigs and poultry with mealworms, beetles, crickets and flies. If Brussels agrees, five million tonnes should be produced each year in Europe.
We have known the unthinkable with herbivorous cows that fed on animal meal. Tomorrow, could pigs and chickens eat insects?
Everything will depend on Brussels! For now, it is still "niet" for health reasons after the trauma of the "mad cow". But industrialists and researchers have made enormous progress, which gives them reason to hope for a green light by the end of the year. Cats and other pets have been able to eat whole insects for five years. Beetles are very good for their health and their skin. Farmed fish are also entitled to it, they have been fed with insects since 2017. So it still gets stuck for pigs and poultry, which is not the case in Canada and China where there are no regulations.
Packed with protein, is the insect the miracle food of tomorrow?
Its production could jump by 20% in the next five years. The food and agriculture organization of the United Nations relies on these little animals to eradicate chronic undernutrition in Africa for example and even offer a sustainable alternative to eating meat in developed countries. Provided that eating habits change. The cricket blanquette is not yet for tomorrow. FAO also encourages agriculture to use them, it would avoid plundering the oceans. A quarter of the fish caught is used to feed animals, what a heresy. Poultry and pigs love insects, they already eat many of them naturally. Thanks to their protein, there are better yields and the fillet of poultry is larger and hormone-free.
A whole industry in France and in Europe holds its breath if ever the rules change?
If Brussels agrees, it is five million tonnes that should be produced each year in Europe against 1.5 million in the event of a standstill. Two billion investment in Europe could follow by 2025 with the key to the creation of 100,000 jobs. It is France which is in pole position with Ynsect, the world leader which has invested more than 100 million in an insect flour factory near Amiens. But beware, not just any. Only seven species are approved: two of mealworms, beetles, three of crickets and two of flies. Tomorrow will be a headache for ham fans. Will that of pig fed on beetles dethrone the Spanish with the acorn and the Corsican with the chestnuts?