Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Mary Kay
Hello.
In 2011, the European Union invested 3 million euros
researching the consumption of insects.
Does Europe really believe that we're going to start eating insects?
This is not a question of belief,
but rather one of the paths we could follow
as a solution to a food safety issue
which will affect us within several years, regarding proteins.
By 2050, we will go a population of 7 billion to one of 9 billion.
Another issue linked to proteins,
we predict that meat consumption will double by 2050,
with an increase in both richer countries as well as developing ones.
Currently, livestock raising, already requires half of all agricultural land
on the entire planet.
It is therefore difficult to imagine that we double this half
to amount to the entirety of all agricultural land for livestock raising,
whether it's used to place raise animals,
or to grow fodder, or wheat, used to feed them.
We must find new solutions.
And within these new solutions, there is a very obvious one,
which is to consume a little less meat where too much is currently consumed.
This is not applicable worldwide,
there are plenty of countries
in which protein consumption is still insufficient
especially for children and this poses a genuine issue.
Other possible solution, the consumption of new sources of protein,
one being, insects.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization
urge the consumption of insects in places where it is traditional.
So, why the consumption of insects?
Insects are extremely rich in proteins.
As rich as a steak or a pork chop.
It is a very interesting ingredient, and edible, of course.
Billions of people eat insects daily or almost daily.
In over 100 countries, we have counted almost 2000 species of different insects
which are consumed, either as an appetizer, to replace chips,
either, in certain cases, as an important source of protein
at certain times, when insects are abundant.
This is true in Mexico, it is true in Thailand,
in Laos, in China, in a number of African countries.
It's very important.
And it is for this reason that the FAO advocated for the development
of cricket and ant breeding, which enables people to feed themselves
and to sell these insects in order to obtain a significant income
as insects can be quite expensive.
How does this concern us, Europeans,
for whom, insect consumption is far from being a tradition?
For us, insects are more or less, dirty animals, disturbing, harmful.
Yet, especially in France, we do eat quite unusual animals:
we eat snails, we eat frogs, shrimp, crab.
Crabs and shrimps, as a side note, are very similar to crickets or locusts.
We also know that we're able to change our point of view
regarding our diet.
Who would have known, 50 years ago that we would be eating
raw fish at restaurants and that we would be willing
to pay a lot of money to eat raw fish?
50 years ago, it was unthinkable today it's ordinary.
There are pleasant insects, lady bugs, bees.
But these aren't the ones we can eat.
But we can also change our point of view regarding insects.
That being said, it's obvious
that insects won't replace a steak or grilled chicken.
I've tasted it, it's not the same, indeed.
But the proteins which we consume don't all come from meat or pork roasts.
We consume a lot of invisible proteins, proteins in raviolis,
proteins in meat based sauces,
in all sort of cured hams and sausages.
We do not see these proteins and we consume them in the form of flour.
There are two types of flour.
There is fish flour, made from small fish
which are caught in the ocean for flour making.
Fishery has reached its peak.
We will not fish for more small fish in order to provide more flour.
The second source: soy.
Soy is a plant of great industrial culture
which requires a lot of water, a lot of energy,
it requires a lot of pesticides, a lot of fertilizer,
which is responsible for a lot of pollution,
and a large part of the soy which we grow are GMOs.
It's not very ecological, surely, not to mention the millions of acres
that are cleared to grow soy.
Instead of these flours which are not very ecological,
we could move on to insect based flours.
Especially since these flours are also used in our diets,
in a different way, which is probably even more important but indirectly,
to feed the animals we eat.
For example, farm raised fish, trout, salmon, poultry, pigs.
All these animals are fed animal based flours, made out of fish
or plant based flours such as soy flour.
I'm not talking about, although I could talk about
flours used in cat and dog kibble, even though it's not part of our diets.
So, for our diets,
for the diet of the animals we eat, as well as our pets' diets,
we could replace
these environmentally unfriendly flours with insect based flours.
These insects will have to come from farms,
we cannot get them from nature.
There are already a certain number of animals who are overexploited
we're not going to start on insects too.
Furthermore, we are unaware of what they've consumed,
we have pesticides everywhere, we're not going to use insects
for which, we don't know exactly what they've consumed.
Therefore, we create farms.
The idea is to create farms to breed insects which will be used
to produce insect based flours which would be invisible in our diets.
There is a lot of research work on this subject.
For example, the University of Wageningen, in the Netherlands,
has devoted a lot of work to these insect farms,
which generate a lot of interest.
We can give insects agricultural bi-products,
which we can't do anything else with.
Instead of throwing them, we can give them to insects
which will transform it in a very impressive way.
In order to obtain 1 kilogram of veal, we need 10 kilograms of grass.
In order to get 1 kilogram of pork, we need 5 kilograms of pig feed.
In order to obtain 1 kilogram of insects, we need just about 2 kilograms of feed
which is a very effective transformation.
Insects grow at an incredible speed.
A calf will go from 60 kilograms to 150 kilograms in 3 months
Well, then in about 3 months, you'll get 100 times meal-worms.
A meal-worm is no big deal,
but a million meal-worms, It is equal to a calf.
So that's also interesting.
Another advantage of these farms is they are less polluting,
much less than pigs or even cows
because of the type of fertilizer they produce,
but also due to the water, or energy used, and pollutant gases.
So that's another plus.
There is an interesting advantage,
that insects are so distant from us
it's very low risk they can contract diseases
and pass them to other mammals like us.
Therefore, all the medical problems we may face now
would be much less important.
It's obvious we don't know how to use these farms well.
It is known that some insects are bred,
to feed iguanas or lizards, for biological control,
ladybugs to fight against aphids,
but we can not breed large numbers of insects
under good conditions, intended for human consumption
or for animal consumption where we then eat same animals.
So there is much work to do.
such as a lot of research to tame these insects,
much in the same way we domesticated other farm animals we currently breed.
Another important point, of course,
it is necessary these farms be competitive in relation to soybeans or fish meal,
but many companies are already engaged in this operation.
For example, in South Africa there is a company
that's breeding fly larvae to feed poultry.
In France, there is a company that breeds organic insects for human consumption.
Another plan is to raise silkworms, black flies soldiers
for poultry and farmed fish such as salmon, of course.
These are leader companies of a movement that searches and sets to solve
a huge food security problem.
So the problem is not the question, "Will we eat insects?"
It is rather, "Will we accept to change our mindsets
and start eating invisible insects
in the form of flour, daily, in our food?
And to take this plan to a world that from the eating habits can be
a little more just and lasting,
I invite you to change your mind about insects
with these macaroni Chloé brought
and made by a company
from flour worm.
So we can propose Michel to be...
I know he's not really a fan
(Laughter) (Applause)
of insects.
So I'll give you one.
If you doubt it, I'll show you it is edible.
I love macaroni, anyway, it is not a problem...
I will take the greatest and the cricket.
The cricket on top is for esthetic purposes,
But they are real.
Very good.
(Applause)
Delicious.
(Applause)
Thanks Jean-Baptiste.
Thank you.
I've finished.
(Applause)