Occupy Corporatism
by Susanne Posel
AgriProtein Technologies (APT) has been given a $100,000 Innovation Prize from the UN Economic Panel and the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) for their inventive way of producing 380 pounds of fly larvae in less than 72 hours.
APT is a “fly factory” that could potentially provide favorable and sustainable protein for the world’s hungry populations.
The edible insect movement is being furthered by Nordic Food Lab (NFL) which produces foods such as mayonnaise and yogurt derived from bee larvae.
The Japanese Insect Cuisine Research Association (ICRA) holds an annual celebration of bug-eating with a festival wherein grasshopper and stonefly larvae are served to attendees.
Birgit Rumpold and Oliver Schlüter of the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering in Postdam, Germany, compiled the nutritional composition of 236 species of edible bugs who satisfy caloric, protein and amino acids to human diets while providing monounsaturated fats and/or polyunsaturated fats and rich in micronutrients such as “copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, selenium, and zinc as well as riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin, and in some cases folic acid.”
The European Union offered €3 million to aid in a project promoting the exploitation of “the potential of insects as alternative sources of protein.”
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a report entitled, “Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security” wherein they suggest that eating insects would feed the hungry populations across the globe.
The report asserts: “Insects are healthy, nutritious alternatives to mainstream staples such as chicken, pork, beef and even fish.”
In other countries, the UN explains that “beetles, wasps and caterpillars are also an unexplored nutrition source that can help address global food insecurity.”
By 2030, the UN estimates the world’s human population to be 9 billion. Livestock will need to be raised. Water and other resources will have to be allocated to feed those burgeoning populations.
Afton Halloran, consultant for the FAO Edible Insects Program, at the FAO, explained: “Domesticating and rearing insects can help sustain insect populations while also helping counter nutritional insecurity and improve livelihoods. Farming insects has a huge global potential for both animal feed and food production. We are already seeing producers creating animal feed from insects and research. And development is occurring around the world in order incorporate insects into menus and processed foods.”
With over 1,900 species of insect to choose from the FAO maintains that eating bugs will have ecological advantages and ensure the survival of mankind.
The argument for this nutritional change includes the idea that “insects are a highly nutritious and healthy food source with high fat, protein, vitamin, fibre and mineral content. The nutritional value of edible insects is highly variable because of the wide range of edible insect species. Even within the same group of species, nutritional value may differ depending on the metamorphic stage of the insect, the habitat in which it lives, and its diet. For example, the composition of unsaturated omega-3 and six fatty acids in mealworms is comparable with that in fish (and higher than in cattle and pigs), and the protein, vitamin and mineral content of mealworms is similar to that in fish and meat.”
The report states: “Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint.”
To coerce people to eat more insects, the report suggests that the restaurant industry add insects to their menu and create new recipes to include insects as ingredients.
The report reads: “The use of insects on a large scale as a feed ingredient is technically feasible, and established companies in various parts of the world are already leading the way.”
In essence, the argument remains that humanity could choose from 100 hamburgers or 1,200 cricket cakes. And when deciding how to feed the burgeoning human population, as the UN seems to concerned about, the eco-friendly cultivation of bugs for consumption just makes sense.
Around the world, insects are appearing on the menu as ingredients for dishes.
Chef Mari Arzak says that he enjoys eating grasshoppers, yet does not plan to add them to the menu at his 3 star restaurants in Spain.
Chef Nacho Manzano feels that bugs will not be added to the menu any time soon.
However Chef Gorka Txpartegui claims: “Insects are good and I like ants. I love Asian cooking and we always have Asian cooks on our team. We are fundamentally Basque, but (insects) could be an option.”
According to Tom Turpin, entomologist at Perdue University explains that he conducts demonstrations on how to stir-fry mealworms so that they taste like buttery popcorn.
Mealworms offer healthy fats and are high in vitamin A and B; as well as B12. In fact, when given mealworm meatballs in a taste-test, participants overwhelmingly preferred them to traditionally made beef or sausage meatballs.
Arguments for eating bugs eventually points to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who state that consumption of insects is not threatening to a healthy lifestyle – up to a point.
Due to “poor manufacturing practices” it is assumed that bugs have entered the general public’s food supply without any way of stopping it. It is simply part of the harvesting and production process.
Allowable contaminants by the FDA include:
• In 8 ounces of macaroni there could be 225 insect fragments or 4.5 rodent hairs
• In 3.5 oz of canned mushrooms 20 or more maggots is ok
ConspiracyAnalyst.org 