INSECT PROTEIN Production and Demand Growing

At the seminar on the development of new resources for future foods, our Ministry of Health officially listed ants as a new resource development project. We have also initiated the establishment of a national resource insect industry promotion committee to promote the development and utilization of insect foods and medicines. The insect protein industry has greatly expanded the impact of insects being edible. As the development of insect food and medicines can turn pests into treasures and achieve multiple benefits in one go, in the twenty-first century, there has been a boom in the establishment of insect food industries, and corresponding insect food and medicines will continue to appear.

The number of distributed species of edible insects exceeded 300 in all three countries, China, Mexico and India, and the highest number of edible insects was recorded for beetles, with 659 species.The distribution area of insect protein can be divided into five major geographic regions: tropical Africa, Oceania, Neotropics, Orient and Near North.

Insect proteins are proteins extracted from insects at various stages of growth, such as eggs, larvae, adults, pupae, moths, and so on, using insects as raw materials. There are about one million species of insects in the world, and more than 3,650 species are edible. Throughout the world at present, various food products using insects as raw materials, such as yellow mealworm cookies, cricket protein bars, mixed insect snacks, insect protein pills and so on are emerging.

In recent years, China's insect protein production and demand has gradually increased, and China's insect protein production increased from 1,381,500 tons to 3,512,200 tons in 2015-2020, and demand increased from 1,204,400 tons to 3,221,700 tons. Insect protein has great potential in the field of aquaculture. The insect protein industry can solve part of the supply of protein, fat and chitin in feed at low cost, alleviating our urgent need for marine and fish.

Insect Protein Company Ÿnsect Expansion Goes Hand in Hand with Layoffs

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in its report 《How to Feed the World in 2050》suggests that insects may be one of the solutions to the resource constraints caused by population growth.

Insects are small, fast reproducing, and rich in protein (many contain 40-70% protein), and are traditionally eaten in most parts of the world, but they are far from being popular, and there are still issues of acceptance, dietary habits, and product form that remain to be addressed before they can be “fed” to human beings.

However, this trend is changing. While alternative proteins from plants, microorganisms and cells are in full swing, insect proteins are also emerging, with companies attracting funding in recent years. 2021 saw the announcement by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that it had approved the consumption of yellow mealworms in the European Union, further pushing insect proteins out of the animal feed and into the human food market.

Ÿnsect represents this sector: since its founding in Paris, France, in 2011, the company has raised more than $625 million, including a recent $175 million round first disclosed by Bloomberg on April 17 (BST), in which no investors were disclosed. The company is also currently in the process of agreeing on another funding round, a customer deal worth about $1 billion, which is expected to close this year. Ÿnsect focuses primarily on rearing yellow mealworms. Yellow mealworms are rich in protein (72%), contain all essential amino acids and are highly digestible. The company's insect farms are powered by advanced robotics, computer vision, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence, and its plant in Amiens, northern France, is claimed to be the world's largest vertical farm and is expected to ship up to 160,000 metric tons of insects annually; its product pipeline includes feeds for aquaculture, poultry, swine, and pets, as well as plant-based fertilizers and food for human beings; for the time being, its primary product focus is on animal feeds.

Animal feed is a good market

Since the industrialization of feed, global feed production has entered a new phase, with global feed production climbing. According to Alltech's survey on global feed, global feed production increased year by year from 2016 to 2020, and in 2020, despite suffering from the impact of the epidemic, global feed production still increased by 1% to 1,188 million tons.

At present, there are not many participants in the insect protein industry, and it is even in its infancy in China. The current industry leaders include Protix from the Netherlands, Ÿnsect from France, InnovaFeed from the United States, and Xinsheng Bio from China. With the continuous upgrading of consumption, insect protein has once again attracted the attention of the industry, and even attracted research teams and food manufacturers around the world to invest in research and apply it in various fields such as baking, snacks, seasonings, nutrition and health care. According to the data, the global insect food market is valued at $143.6 million, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 45%, reaching $1.336 billion by 2025. According to experts, in the future, insects will become the third largest class of protein source after microorganisms and cellular organisms.In 2019, China's domestic production of insect protein is 297.99 tons, and the demand is 257.24 tons; China's domestic production of insect protein is 351.22 tons, and the demand is 322.17 tons. In addition, insect protein has great potential in the field of aquaculture. The insect protein industry can solve part of the supply of protein, fat and chitin in the feed at low cost, which alleviates our urgent need for marine and fish.