The first startups are created, focusing on insect products

The first startups are created, which focus on insect products. One of them is the Horizon Insects startup, which is backed by businesswoman Tiziana Di Costanzo. With her husband Tom Mohan, she already plays an important role in the nascent market. It produces Belgian beer from beetles, special burgers in Germany and even cricket chips in the Czech Republic. Tiziana Di Costanzo has recently been focusing more and more on pizza dough. It mixes domestic crickets into it, which, according to her, add a meaty taste to the dough. "I think insect products are our future," the businesswoman told AP News. The population on planet Earth is still growing. In 2019, 7.6 billion people lived worldwide. The most populous countries are mainly China and India, where a total of almost three billion people live. However, the planet's human population is predicted to continue to grow in the coming years. In 2023, it is to exceed eight billion. However, the growing population is also putting more pressure on global food production, and insects may play an important role in this context in the coming years. According to experts, insects are especially rich in proteins. Compared to beef or pork, for example, its breeding is also more sustainable. "Insect breeding is not demanding on the soil. Compared to cattle, it needs much less water and its breeding is also positive for humanity in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, "Arnold van Huis, a professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, told AP News. According to the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed, European production of insect-based food products will increase from 500 metric tons to 260,000 tons by 2030. Insects are already regularly consumed by about two billion people in more than 130 countries around the world, and according to research by banking and financial company Barclays, this trend is increasing over time. For this reason, the first startups are being created in Europe, which are trying to change the diet of Europeans. Before insects become part of Europeans' diets, they can consume them more indirectly. The European Union has approved insects as animal feed. So far it concerns fish. In the near future, however, it should also apply to poultry or pigs. At the beginning of January this year, the European Food Safety Agency took an important step in the field of insect consumption, approving the sale, preparation and administration of mealybug larvae as a food that can be consumed by humans. This may be a sign of a small food revolution that the European Union may face in the coming years.