Because they are high in protein and healthy, insects could be part of our diet.

The start-up Ynsect, which produces insect-based flour, also received the green light from the European food safety authority in mid-January to market its products intended for human consumption.

This natural powder would promote muscle performance.

After feeding the animals, will the French start-up Ynsect be able to feed humans?

On Wednesday January 13, the European food safety authority authorized the marketing on the human food market of this powder made from insects and concentrated in proteins.

Antoine Hubert, founder of the start-up, was the guest of France Bouge on Thursday to discuss this flour which could become more democratic in the years to come. 

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Beetles turned into flour

For ten years, the company has been breeding insects, beetles more precisely, to transform them into flour intended for animal feed.

Fed in this way, "animals eat less and grow faster", assured Antoine Hubert, founder of Ynsect, on Thursday at the microphone of Europe 1. "We have seen enormous effects of performance, growth and fertility", he adds.

"Insects are the basis of the diet of almost all animals, but they have never been used", explains Antoine Hubert.

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Used in energy bars

The start-up then wanted to enter the human food market.

"We don't immediately tackle the taste," concedes Antoine Hubert.

"These are technical and functional ingredients that will promote muscle performance", develops the founder of Ynsect, who explains targeting athletes.

"This flour will, for example, complement energy bars or energy drinks," he lists.

But could beetles be sold and eaten "normally" without even being made into flour?

Certain types of insects, such as grasshoppers for example, can in fact be tasted as an aperitif, but the unattractive appearance frightens many consumers.

"Why not, in the future, develop products based on meat," suggests Antoine Hubert, "but it is still too early. We will have to work on taste with chefs and consumer panels, it will take longer ".

Ynsect, which has raised 224 million dollars to finance the construction of a farm near Amiens, expects these products to be put on sale by 2022.