Are you eating bugs without even knowing it?

FPI / July 10, 2024

If your food seems a bit crunchier than before, don't be surprised if there's the remains of some kind of creepy crawly in there.

"To be clear, cricket and mealworm flour is being put into all sorts of processed foods in many countries, including the USA, and the labeling of such products is not always clear," Dr. Robert Malone noted in a July 8 analysis. "If you see Acheta protein in a product, know that it has been adulterated with insect protein (aka cricket protein powder)."

While the FDA has issued some guidance on the bug-eating topic, the agency is not regulating the edible insect market in any systematic way.

"The problem with the lack of regulatory controls on insect products is that they carry specific risks to the general population, particularly people with shellfish allergies," Malone noted. "This has been known for years, but even now — a slew of peer-reviewed papers are being published about the dangers of insects being added to foods without proper labeling."

The USDA website yielded no results when searching for regulating insects for the human food market.

The USDA did announce that it awarded a $130,000 grant to St. Louis-based Mighty Cricket Inc., a private firm that sells cricket flour, cricket protein powder and cricket oatmeal. The crickets are fed using landfill waste, which the USDA said could help Mighty Cricket “procure cricket feed at lower cost than what is available on the market.”

Meet Larry Ward, Free Press Foundation

The European Union recently approved the sale of yellow mealworms, lesser mealworms, migratory locusts, and house crickets for humans, either to be eaten whole or as protein for pasta, protein bars, and other (processed) foods.

In South Africa, a company called Entomilk is making a liquid protein drink from black soldier fly larvae.

In India, cockroach milk is being developed. "This product is literally cockroach milk, which is what female cockroaches feed their young," Malone noted.

Bug consumption is not limited to humans.

"The pet food and livestock industry has embraced the concept, and now, even our pets are eating insects," Malone noted.

Pet Food Industry reported in January that French firm Ynsect's mealworm protein for dog food has been approved for us in the U.S.

"But the truth is that this authorization is from a non-profit organization called the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and is completely voluntary," Malone wrote. "This is just more marketing to sell this shat to U.S. consumers. After all, if it is 'authorized' for sale in the USA, it must be safe, right"?"

Ynsect, by the way, is part of the World Economic Forum family.

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