this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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[–] xantoxis 60 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Gonna be honest, if you told me a country was going to start doing this, I would not have picked Italy

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

Yeah. Didn't their politicians/farmers lobby block lab grown meat recently.

[–] Perhapsjustsniffit 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You can buy cricket flour in Canada. There is a manufacturer in Nova Scotia.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] Perhapsjustsniffit 5 points 9 months ago

The one I was thinking of was Midgard Insect Farms Inc but I think they only grow for pet food. There are many others in Canada however. Even Loblaws started selling cricket flour in their stores around 2017.

[–] Raptor_007 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, my wife will be pissed if I tell her about this.

[–] fidodo 6 points 9 months ago

Why? It's just more choice, nobody will be forced to buy it. Seems silly to get upset about what other people choose to eat... Wait, she's Italian, checks out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Well, other EU countries already sell insect-based food countries.and I'm not sure to what degree they can completely ignore the EU regulations.

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[–] Katt 33 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I am all for this, eating insects is done in many cultures and a healthy source of nutrition. We westerners may see it as something intimidating at first, because we so squirmish about bugs, but I am honestly curious about the taste.

That being said, I don't know why we need more nutritious flour. We are not lacking protein in our diets. Even vegans and vegetarians easily hit the minimum protein intake by consuming plant based protein....

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

It is not only about hitting the limits. it is also about creating the right balance. It is a good way of getting protein intake, w.o. having carbohydrates alongside.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

We are not lacking protein in our diets

Doesn't mean that we can't look for more environmentally friendly protein sources, or cheaper ones, or open up more options to replace the carbs that are badly overrepresented in the average American's diet, or explore new potential flavors, or use this as a supplement for other nutrients it may contain, or any number of other perfectly valid reasons to explore a new food source. More knowledge is better, it lets us make decisions that more closely fit our needs and gives us more flexibility in solving problems.

[–] fidodo 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

We are not lacking protein in our diets.

Go to any fitness community and you will see tons of people trying to get more protein in their diet. This is a niche food, I highly doubt it will appear anywhere in any non specialty products. I don't see any problems with more choice as long as it has been tested to be safe, which this is.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I, a white guy, have eaten deep fried crickets. They were very nice, they tasted like crispy chicken skin.

Would definitely eat them as a snack if they were available. Also had meal worms that came with my chocolate and my gf wouldn't kiss me for the rest of the day until I cleaned my teeth. They were yummy too but not as nice as the crickets.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm still kind of puzzled about why you'd want to use something like this, instead of plant-based ingredients.

Though obviously it doesn't make sense to completely outlaw it, either.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)
  1. apparently extremely nutritious and high in protein

  2. But obviously creepy & disgusting and many people are NOT willing to intentionally eat this.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Guess what else is nutritious and high in protein, but not creepy? Beans.

I'd rather just eat more beans than crickets.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The whole eating insects idea is motivated by carbon emissions and similar concerns: insect meal is around 60-70% protein (beans are around 30%, maybe bean meal is more but I have never seen it anywhere), and its cost in terms of emissions and land use is much smaller than either meat or plants (especially stuff like soy). Nobody is arguing that it should replace beans. Rather, it could help diminish meat consumption.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

its cost in terms of emissions and land use is much smaller than either meat or plants (especially stuff like soy)

Is that true? Do you have some links for that?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (3 children)

According to this study a mealworm farm uses more energy per kg of protein produced compared to chicken, but much less energy than any other meat. However, mealworm farms rank lowest in COβ‚‚-equivalent emissions per kg of protein and lowest in land use compared to all meat products, including chicken.

Apparently soy beans produce 6.82 kg of COβ‚‚-equivalent per kg of protein isolate (which is 90% protein, therefore 7,5 kg of COβ‚‚-equivalent per kg of protein), while mealworm farms produce 14 kg of COβ‚‚-equivalent per kg of protein (and around 30 kg for chicken, the next best option). Worse, but less than double.

As for land use, the first study calculates that to produce 1kg of protein from mealworms it is necessary to use 18 square meters of land per year (including the land to grow food for the worms) while according to this other study vegetable proteins need up to 25 square meters of land per year for each kg of protein.

I admit it's not as big a difference in land use as I thought (it's different studies, they might have slightly different metrics) , but I think there are other factors that make it a much more complicated issue: mass use of fertilizers, monocultures, deforestation, soil impoverishment... An advantage of mealworms might be that you can give them a variety of foods that are easier on the soil (the first study mentioned carrots, grains and other stuff) in order for them to produce protein, while protein-heavy plants require rich soil and tend to drain it fast.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

one minor nit to pick re: land use - not all land is created equal. you might be able to raise mealworms in places you can't raise chickens, which would alleviate food deserts and reduce the cost of getting enough protein to market in many places.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Many people cannot digest beans and other legumes properly.

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[–] fidodo 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I know of no flour replacements that have literally zero carbs. Even whey protein which is a fitness supplement has more carbs. I'm sure the keto community would be super into this.

Eating insects is not weird in many cultures, and a product existing does not mean you have to eat it. Plenty of people hate tomatoes, should that be banned too? Don't like it? Don't eat it. You can be happy for the people that do want this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

then walk past the crickets to the beans at the grocery store, and let those of us who are willing to try new things try them.

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[–] fidodo 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Eating insects is normal in many cultures. Calling it obviously creepy and disgusting is imposing your own narrow value system on others. The world is a big and diverse place. If it isn't hurting anyone (well, other than the crickets), why should it matter? Nobody is going to be forced to eat this if they don't want to.

There are so many non Western foods that most westerners aren't into, should they all be banned? And who knows? Maybe adventurous eaters will try it and like it. Sushi used to be viewed as "objectively creepy and disgusting" by many westerners for decades.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

creepy & disgusting is a matter of opinion, not fact, and anyone who isn't willing to eat this is perfectly free to just not.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Everyone here saying how awful this sounds, and I'm just sitting here excited to try a new food. I ate mealworms before and they were pretty good, so why not?

It's certainly not what I'm used to but it's definitely less weird than some common foods we typically eat like cheese (which I fucking love, but if you think about it its weird as shit!)

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

the ideas that:

no one should have to eat bugs if they don't want to

and

people who want to eat bugs should be able to get bugs easily

aren't mutually exclusive.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

@throws_lemy All far-righters on suicide watch

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


β€œThis is very big news for us,” said Cianni, whose main motive for the business initiative was to provide an alternative, sustainable protein source.

Since 2020, millions of crickets have been raised at the company’s plant in Montecassiano, a town in the central Marche region, where they are heat-treated before being frozen and ground into powder.

The EU approved the sale of insects – namely crickets, locusts and darkling beetle larvae – for human consumption in early 2023, sparking a flurry of proposed regulations from the Italian government, including one aimed at ensuring insects are kept away from traditional dishes such as pasta and pizza.

β€œIt’s fundamental that these flours are not confused with food made in Italy,” said the agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida at the time.

However, by the time the regulations became official at the end of last year, the government had relented, instead imposing strict labelling rules, such as clearly stating the product’s origin and the requirement to use Acheta domesticus, the Latin for house cricket, on packets so as to make it a little less startling to the consumer.

β€œIt’s good for the environment because the resources required to breed crickets and the spaces used are really small, and so emissions are almost zero,” said Cianni.


The original article contains 470 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 55%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] snek 7 points 9 months ago

It's all fine as long as it doesn't look like a cricket.

[–] Noodle07 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How many insect parts are allowed per kg of flour? πŸ€”

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] penguin_knight 10 points 9 months ago

i saw a packet of heinz ketchup that said 148g of tomato per 100g. I guess they evaporate the liquid but I had a good laugh.

[–] HappycamperNZ 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Can't wait to try this.

Would go soo well as a traditional Italian Hawaiian pizza.

(/s on the pizza thing, do kinda wanna try it though)

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

βœŒοΈπŸπŸ¦— Will ask my Italian mum, if we maybe could have some cricket lasagne. Jammi-jammi.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Maybe some butterfly Farfalle first?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Yall are excited for this but I'll stick to wheat flour, thanks.

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