Europe 1 visited the Ynsect factory in Dole, in the Jura, where an insect-based flour is produced, until then used only for fertilizers and animal feed, but whose authority European Food Safety Authority has just authorized the placing on the market for humans. 

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"It's a very fine powder, we find a little nutty taste", comments Cyrille Canitrot, expert in breeding, in front of a huge robot grinder.

In the flour that comes out, however, no trace of dried fruit… But rather millions of large beetle larvae swarming in plastic bins, stacked 12 meters high near the machine.

On Tuesday, the European Food Safety Authority gave the green light for the foods to be marketed as food for humans - they had until then been used for fertilizers and animal feed.

And the company Ynsect, whose factory is located in Dole, in the Jura, was waiting for that. 

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Protein in powder form

"It looks a bit like little earthenware glasses of 2-3 cm, golden yellow", describes Cyrille Canitrot in front of the insects which are about to become flour.

"We really transform our larvae when they are mature, because that's where they have the highest protein levels."

These proteins in powder form are currently used to make food for cats, dogs or fish - the company is the leader in this market in France. 

So when is the “big leap” to human nutrition?

From next year, responds the manager of the company, Antoine Hubert.

"These will be energy bars that you can consume before or after exercise, to buy in sports stores. They will also be energy drinks."

Insect-based burgers? 

The boss recognizes it however: in France, "one is not yet with the insect for the taste", which one could order as such in a restaurant, for example.

But "in the longer term, we are indeed considering that insects really enter the heart of our plate", he assures us.

"We have research in that direction, for example of burgers that can be made from the insects that we breed!"

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These new products will not be more expensive than others on the shelves, assures Antoine Hubert. On the other hand, they will be much more respectful of the environment: to produce so much protein in beef, it would take a surface 100 times larger than that of this farm factory.