While traditionally an animal protein supplier, Essentia Protein Solutions is developing alternative solutions in line with the buzz around insect-based ingredients. The company anticipates demand for its cricket protein to increase over the next two to four years. 

On the showfloor of Vitafoods 2022 held in Geneva, Switzerland, FoodIngredientsFirst speaks to Irene Plaats, global marketing director at Essentia, to weigh the nutritional value of crickets and share unique insights on how to manipulate their flavor profile.

“With the population growing as fast as it is, theres evidence that we won’t have enough food in the world to provide for all these people,” she stresses. “We still have a lot of food derived from meat and animals, and they need crops to feed on.”

Cricket protein is described as offering a neutral taste profile. “Its more like a little bit of nutty flavor, I would say,” notes Plaats.

“Another interesting thing is that if you feed the crickets with lets say garlic or rosemary or something else, the powder will actually take that taste. Yeah, so maybe that can be exploited somehow, although we havent tested it yet. But thats something were looking into.”

Earlier this year, house crickets were approved as a high-protein food ingredients in EU F&B.Nutritious and versatile
Just earlier this year, house crickets (Acheta domesticus) and yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) were approved as high-protein food ingredients across a broad range of European F&B platforms, including multigrain bread rolls, dried pasta products, “beer-like” alcoholic beverages and chocolate confectionery.

Cricket protein may present a more sustainable alternative to whey protein for sports nutrition applications like muscle growth, according to a Protein Rebel study. It suggests cricket protein could be 50% more digestible than whey protein.

“I know maybe not every consumer would perceive it as food yet, but we have quite a we’re quite convinced that a lot of people are very health-oriented and very want to try new things,” comments Plaats.

“Also, a lot of the younger consumers want to be really responsible about what they are eating and could look for something thats very sustainable.”

The emissions and water footprint for cricket protein is significantly low and “not comparable to anything else”, she adds.

“Crickets eat just corn and seeds and they live for six weeks. And then they are exposed to hydrogen and they die from hibernation. You simply harvest them, using more or less  the entire animal. Then, you mill them for protein.”

Packing on the protein
Next to being relatively easy to produce, cricket proteins offer a “fantastic nutritional profile”, Plaats continues.

Irene Plaats, global marketing director at Essentia Protein Solutions, on the show floor of Vitafoods 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland.“Cricket protein contains all the essential branched amino acids and a high level of vitamin B12. It’s also high on iron. There’s so many good things to say about cricket protein so it was quite easy for us to make this decision.”

This autumn, Essential is launching cricket protein within its Omni range of products. “We havent come up with the name yet, but we’re going to promote it to the nutrition sector for snacks, crackers and different sorts of meal replacements,” says Plaats.

“When we look at the products that are already in the market that have insect or cricket protein, they often contain a small portion of the entire protein,” she highlights. “So in these cases, protein may come primarily from other sources – from animal-based sources like whey – with cricket protein added on top in order to have that positioning on front-of-pack.”

“It’s something that brands really want to push because it has a great sustainability story and a great nutritional profile.”

Choosing crickets over mealworms
Mealworm protein is considered another viable contender in the insect protein arena. Research by Maastricht University in the Netherlands has suggested that mealworm protein is as nutritionally beneficial as the “gold standard” dairy protein.

Commenting on the comparability of cricket and mealworm protein, Plaats remarks: “What we see is that cricket protein is more suitable for the food industry – producers of human-grade food – wheras a lot of the larvae so the the mealworms from black soldier flies or whatever insect is mainly used in the pet food and animal husbandry sectors.”

“Crickets have to be fed with the certified feed wheras mealworms can be fed with waste waste material,” she notes. “That makes cricket protein more expensive, because crickets have to be raised under more controlled conditions.”

Compared to mealworms, crickets must be fed certified feed as a human food-safe product.Essentia’s crickets for human consumption are not fed kitchen waste, even as this is possible. “We have to give them certified feed,” says Plaats.

Bugs on the menu
The buzz around insects is steadily growing, with reports revealing that the insect protein market is estimated to potentially be worth up to US$8 billion by 2030. 

Last month, the ValuSect consortium of European insect producers extended €460,000 (US$496,600) worth of services to 18 edible insect enterprises.

In the US, researchers at West Virginia University are currently laying the groundwork for developing more efficient protein isolation techniques for crickets, locusts and silkworms.

Earlier this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations investigated future challenges and risks presented by consuming insect-based ingredients, alongside other novel foods such as jellyfish and cell-cultured meat.

And last July, migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria) were branded as safe for human consumption in both frozen and dried formats, following approval from the European Food Safety Authority.