The bread, made from flour ground from dried crickets as well as
wheat flour and seeds, contains more protein than normal wheat
bread. Each loaf contains about 70 crickets and costs 3.99 euros
($4.72), compared with 2 to 3 euros for a regular wheat loaf.
"It offers consumers with a good protein source and also gives them
an easy way to familiarize themselves with insect-based food," said
Juhani Sibakov, head of innovation at Fazer Bakeries.
The demand to find more food sources and a desire to treat animals
more humanely have raised interest in using insects as a protein
source in several Western countries.
In November, Finland joined five other European countries - Britain,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Denmark - in allowing insects
to be raised and marketed for food use.
Sibakov said Fazer had developed the bread since last summer. It had
to wait for legislation to be passed in Finland for the launch.
"I don't taste the difference ... It tastes like bread," said Sara
Koivisto, a student from Helsinki after trying the new product.
Due to a limited supply of crickets, the insect-bread will initially
only be sold in 11 Fazer bakery stores located in Helsinki region
hypermarkets, but the company plans to offer it in all 47 of its
stores by next year.
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The company buys its cricket flour from the Netherlands, but said it
was also looking for local suppliers.
Fazer, a family business with sales of about 1.6 billion euros last
year, did not give a sales target for the product.
Insect-eating, or entomophagy, is common in much of the world. The
United Nations estimated last year that at least 2 billion people
eat insects and more than 1,900 species have been used for food.
In Western countries, edible bugs are gaining traction in niche
markets, particularly among those seeking a gluten-free diet or
wanting to protect the environment because farming insects uses less
land, water and feed than animal husbandry.
(Reporting by Tuomas Forsell; Editing by Jussi Rosendahl and Edmund
Blair)
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