My vision of insect farming is not that it’s starting to push out mainstream agriculture, but it more comes alongside it and helps to support it, as well as provide new revenue opportunities and new ways in which you can create value. A great example is that a farmer can have a container where they’re farming black soldier fly and feeding them with organic byproducts from their own activities, and then feeding the larvae in a live state to their poultry.
Founder and Managing Director
UK Edible Insect Association (UKEIA)
The UK is one of the regions where the insect industry is developing rapidly. The UK Edible Insect Association (UKEIA), which represents the sector, emphasises the growing interest in the sector and the increasing number of members. The association also notes that food-related companies are also interested in insect bioconversion for waste management. However, the slow pace of legislation on insect farming and the use of insect-based proteins, as well as the cautious policies of governments towards this field, stand as one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of the sector.
Emphasising the strong potential of insect bioconversion to manage waste, Dr. Nick Rousseau, Founder and Managing Director of UKEIA, is hopeful for the future. Dr. Rousseau, who believes that the traditional livestock sector and the insect sector should go hand in hand for a sustainable food system, discussed the UK insect sector, the potential of insects in terms of sustainability, and the relationship between traditional livestock and insect farming, for the readers of our magazine. Details in our interview…
Mr. Rousseau, could you introduce the UK Edible Insect Association to our readers who are not familiar with you? What can you tell us about your organisation and your work?
The UK Edible Insect Association is the only trade association that supports companies working with all forms of farmed insect protein in the UK market. We have members from across the supply chain, and actually have new members joining just about every week. To illustrate, we recently had a Kenyan pet food company that wants to enter the market called Loop Pet Food, and one of the major waste management services, Packaged Solutions. We have a very diverse membership from small companies to substantial ones. Our role is to build connections between different companies to help them find supply chain relationships, partnerships, etc.
There are certainly more companies forming in the sector. I started the UKEIA ten years ago. I was doing it as an enthusiast, as I had an interest in the sector. Over the years, it’s become much more of a substantial trade association. So, we’re providing a broader range of services and developing many different resources. As the membership grows, it’s more useful for people to become a member because they can then access that network, as well as that set of resources. So, it is a snowballing effect.
To mention some of the things we’ve done recently, we worked with the Food Standards Agency and submitted a number of novel food dossiers to get approval for edible insects in the UK. We’ve partnered with the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre and we have also created a Directory of over 50 academic specialists and their research facilities, so that our members have access to those research resources. Additionally, we do a lot of public-facing work, particularly around the future of food, attending events, providing tastings, etc.
What is the current state of the insect industry in the UK? How many farms are involved in insect farming, what is their production, what species are usually farmed (or allowed to be farmed) and what is the most common use of these farmed insects?
The current state of the industry is rapidly changing. We have about 35 company members, but we map other companies that are not yet joined. There are nearly 20 companies that we know focused on pet food, a similar number of aiming at products for human consumption and nearly 25 companies working on livestock feed. But some of them are farms, some are product companies, while others are technology companies. The number of farms is quite fluid, as some people start up a farming operation to just test it out.
Most farms in the UK are farming black soldier flies, which is a very good insect to farm for livestock feed. There are a few that farm mealworms, and even fewer that farm crickets or other invertebrates.
What we’ve been seeing is a growing interest amongst the large-scale food sector players in the UK. Big retail chains, including Tesco and Waitrose, are actively looking at how they can use insect bioconversion to manage their waste.
I think over the next five years, we could potentially see 30 to 40 insect farming sites across the UK, each potentially on the scale of 30,000 tons per year. That means there could be 1 million tons of insect farming production per year, but that is still a very small amount of the actual potential. In its report titled The Future of Feed: A WWF Roadmap to Accelerating Insect Protein in UK Feeds, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) predicts that UK insect farms could convert 3.4 million tons of feed substrate into protein.
At the moment, I would say the biggest market opportunity is in pet food. It’s been projected that insect protein for pet food, if it secured just 5 percent of the market, would require 20,000 tons a year. That is an area where there are less restrictive legislations, and there’s no issue with consumer acceptance. Consumers are very happy to feed their pets food that is good for them and it is really good for dogs and cats to have insect in their diets. The production pipeline is also a bit freer. So, the pet food sector is one where there’s a lot of growth, and innovation and some intriguing companies. So, I think we’re very much at a turning point. It’s an exciting time and there’s a lot of growth potential.
Although insect farming is a relatively new field, it has been growing rapidly in recent years worldwide, especially in Europe. How do you evaluate the growth and expansion momentum of the sector in the world and in the UK? What are the factors that support and restrict this growth?
I think we see a key role for the government. The countries where we’ve seen a lot of growth have been the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Singapore. These are countries where the government has worked closely with the industry to really put in place the conditions that stimulate and support insect farming and the use of insect protein.
The Netherlands has a strong sector focus, like with Wageningen University, which is one of the world leading research centres for farmed insect protein. They were the first movers in Europe. Additionally, Switzerland has done a lot of work to establish a farming license model. And Singapore has opened the market for insect protein substantially.
Europe has generally been more cautious, which has been frustrating for a number of our food related companies. Post-Brexit, the UK has become a challenging environment. We’ve worked closely with the Food Standards Agency to get a transitional arrangement for insects as food. And now we’re seeing Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK consulting on the use of processed insect protein for pigs and poultry, as well as aquaculture.
So, things are moving in the right direction. But that legislative piece is absolutely key, because insects have huge potential, if they can be fed on a variety of different feedstocks. They can be offered as feed to a variety of different types of consumers, whether it’s livestock, pet food or human. At the moment, legislation is not fit for purpose as it very much constrains those aspects.
The other thing that we’re seeing is that, as this is a new field, a lot of the local authorities and their enforcement teams are not familiar with insect farming and they don’t know what to look for. So, getting a license to operate, as well as getting the necessary certificates can make it challenging to set up an insect farm in the UK.
In terms of pure volume, there’s no doubt that insect bioconversion is going to be the really big player. That’s because the alternatives for using food waste or organic co-products are huge. So, we have very large food supply chains where there’s a lot of material that is not being used and is currently going to landfill. We’re talking about millions of tons, and the British government is really clamping down on food waste going to landfill. They’re putting a requirement on companies and local authorities to separate out their food waste and to find better uses for them. That’s going to really put pressure on these large organizations to find new options and alternatives. That’s where our sector is really going to be able to step up. Some of the companies that we have as members are, in fact, struggling because the potential demand for their services is far outstripping their capacity to deliver, and we are helping them secure investment to expand.
So, I think in volume terms, the conversion of organic co-products from the food system into protein, which is primarily going to service the livestock sector and pet food, is going to be a huge area. But human food also has a lot of potential.
Which area will see the most widespread use of insect-based proteins: human food or animal feed? Insects are a traditional food source in some parts of the world, but for many people they are a relatively new type of food. How ready do you think people are to consume insect-based foods?
There is a recent survey that was done in the UK, US, Netherlands and France. It found that 57% of consumers were willing to consume insects once the benefits have been explained, but 96% of those who tried them said they liked them, and that they would try them again. So once people have tried something, they do like it. It’s the initial idea that could be a bit odd for people in Europe. But when they try the right products, whether its different dishes, cakes or bars, they love them. And then, it’s a matter of wanting more. In the end, I think we really will see the market shoot up, though there is certainly a lack of familiarity. In Western Europe, some people are very cautious in their eating behaviours. They like what’s familiar. Other people are much more open to trying new things.
A popular food that’s substantial now like sushi, was a weird and strange concept at first, but it has become much more accepted recently. So, I would expect to see different groups of people adopting products with insects in different ways. Athletic people really see the benefit of insect protein because they are more complete form of protein than many plant-based options.
If you look across the world, just about any tropical country will have insects which have been traditionally harvested in the wild and part of the natural diet. There is evidence that people have been eating insects since the dawn of time. But it is now that they’re looking at farming them, as the human population have got so large that you could decimate an ecosystem if everyone was eating the insects in the wild. And that’s why I use the phrase farmed insect protein.
It has been reported that the number of farm animals and animal production in the UK have declined in recent years. Do you think this is due to the changing consumer preferences, price increases in feed raw materials or other reasons such as alternative proteins?
Well, I do acknowledge that it’s a tough time for the farming sector. I have a number of friends who are farmers, and there’s certainly a lot of pressure on the system. I would say that the decline in farm animals and animal production is likely due to a combination of factors which could include changing consumer preferences and concerns about the environmental impact of livestock farming.
Clearly there are more options now in the supermarkets and people are considering where to go when they spend their food money.
Could this decline be an opportunity for the insect industry? Can alternative protein sources such as insects replace traditional proteins? In other words, do you see your sector as a competitor or a supporter of the traditional livestock sector?
I think this decline is an opportunity to partner with the food system. I’m certainly concerned about some of the trends in alternative food production, which seem to be going down a very high tech, ultra processed route. Insects are fundamentally a natural resource and the farming of insects can be incorporated into different regenerative farming or circular economy models. Farmers or companies working in the food space can embrace insect farming as part of other activities they do, and therefore extend their revenue, make better use of some of the resources.
My vision of insect farming is not that it’s starting to push out mainstream agriculture, but it more comes alongside it and helps to support it, as well as provide new revenue opportunities and new ways in which you can create value. A great example is that a farmer can have a container where they’re farming black soldier fly and feeding them with organic byproducts from their own activities, and then feeding the larvae in a live state to their poultry. That’s really good for the poultry from a behavioral as well as health perspective.
So, think that the traditional livestock sector and insect protein sector can go hand in hand, and I hope that they will. I recognize that there are growing concerns about the environmental footprint of livestock farming, but I know the sector is actively looking at what can be done to improve that. A part of that is what the livestock are fed on, as the methane emissions that come from livestock production are partly affected by their diet.
So, I think we need to work together. The sector is at a stage where companies are looking to their own products and their own niche market. What I think we could be doing is joining hands more across these sectors.
For example, if you have a restaurant chain that’s making a beef-based product, and you want to reduce your environmental footprint, instead of using 100 percent beef it could be just 80 percent with 20 percent insect material. It would not only enhance the flavour, but also reduce the carbon footprint, and keep the beef operation. So, I think there’s lots of ways we can coexist and work in partnership with mainstream farming, as part of a general drive to improve the world. Though that transition has to be managed very carefully, and I think we need to maintain our focus on the environment.
We need to find ways of taking everything together: We need to take the farming community with us as we go on the journey towards a more sustainable future.
UKEIA is preparing for the Nest 1.0 conference set to take place in late April. Finally, can you tell us a bit about the conference and its importance for the insect protein industry?
Absolutely. NEST 1.0, which we expect to be running as a series, is going to be a business-to-business event, not an academic conference. It’s going to be hosted by Nottingham University Food Sciences Campus on the 24th and 25th of April.
We’re going to have a mix of business success stories, panel discussions, practical workshops, lab visits, and a substantial exhibition. We’re also going to allow a lot of time for networking and collaboration. Some of the topics we’re going to cover are going to be about how the national supermarkets are embracing farmed insect protein in their waste strategies, how to get the necessary certifications for insect farming. There is going to be an exhibition of different insect farming and food companies, and there’ll be a lunchtime buffet which will include edible insect products to sample from some of our members. Finally, with exclusive briefings on the latest funding from Government and NAPIC, it will be extremely good value. You can register through our Eventbrite page or you can see further the details on our own website.
About Dr. Nick Rousseau
Dr. Nick Rousseau is the founder of UKEIA, and has worked consistently over many years to support more sustainable food solutions – in 2009 he founded a local food growing cooperative and ran it for 5 years before working in the Sheffield Junk Food Project.
In 2015 he founded the Woven Network CIC – UK’s (international) network focused on supporting entrepreneurs and researchers working on the opportunities around insects for food and feed.
As a result of his work with Woven, Rousseau has built an extensive international network of people involved in insect farming and gained a broad understanding of the many issues facing the sector and the opportunities that insect farming offers. He has been asked to speak about the potential of insect protein in the Houses of Parliament, at a policy think-tank event on the future of food and at academic and business conferences. He holds BA, MSc and PhD degrees in psychology from the universities of Cambridge, Loughborough and Sheffield with a focus on psychology and user-centred system design.
