The edible insect sector in Canada and the United States

Abstract

Edible insect markets are rapidly expanding, driven by consumer demand for sustainable food. Edible insect production volumes are still too small to drive a massive change in animal feed sustainability. Frass regulations may delay the development of the nascent edible insect market if they are not simplified and harmonized with other agricultural waste management practices such as manure. Information for the general public about the insects in the food and feed industry in Canada and the United States is lacking and should be addressed by supporting organizations with the collaboration of the industry. The history of edible insects in North America (NA) dates back to the precolonisation era when indigenous knowledge about insect consumption may have saved early settlers (Schrader et al., 2016). In the United States, early insect-farming activities were related to fishing baits (crickets) (Hall et al., 2021) and the oldest known enterprise, Armstrong Cricket Farm, founded in 1947, is still active (Wilkie, 2018). Other large-scale insect-culture activities in this region focused on the production of species used in biological control of pests (or integrated pest management) within the forestry and agri-food sectors or more recently to control insect populations carrying transmissible pathogens that threaten humans and other vertebrates (Klassen and Vreysen, 2021). The relatively recent interest in large-scale production of edible insects has closely mirrored that observed in Western European countries. The 2013 report by the FAO (van Huis et al., 2013) and related efforts laid the foundation for significant developments that have taken place since; both academic and industrial progress has been unprecedented to permit the emergence of large-scale culture of a range of insect species as food and feed (NPC, 2022). The underlying factors motivating the emergence of this sector shares several commonalities with those in Europe, including increased consumer demand for eco-responsible ingredients such as food and feed (Hénault-Ethier et al., 2020) paralleled by matching marketing approaches (Marquis et al., 2020), concerns of negative environmental impacts of traditional food and feed production, and increased pressure in many jurisdictions to manage food waste in a circular manner (Hénault-Ethier et al., 2017; Lahteenmäki-Uutela et al., 2017). The aim of this article is to review the current state of the art related to edible insects in Canada and the United States, including production sectors, regulatory frameworks and R&D efforts to provide an updated status, opportunities, and challenges faced by the NA edible insect sector. Insect farms generate coproducts, insects and frass, for which the final market will be depending on the insect species and the processing methods used. For most production, insects are further processed into full meals, defatted meals and oil which are sold for human and animal consumption. While several studies are proposing protein extraction methods (Ravi et al., 2020), no producers in Quebec are offering this product yet (TFIC, 2022) and minimal information is publicly available about the products being ready to reach the market. Specialists forecast market receptivity and growth both in NA and Europe (Mancini et al., 2022). Although typical profiles of insect consumers are emerging in NA (Marquis et al., 2020), lack of market knowledge, production inconsistencies, and low production volumes represent challenges for the commercial success of edible insects. As for any new industry, the number of active companies and production volumes is still partially defined or kept confidential (Dussault, 2017). Over the last few years, the market interest is reflected by a growing number of market reports related to edible insect proteins. Although all agree on the potential of this emerging sector, the conclusions of these reports are highly variable (Mancini et al., 2022) with some more confident than others. The sector is now gaining momentum with several primary insect producers across the continent and value chain partners downstream beginning to incorporate insects as a primary ingredient in their products. The number of active insect-based companies is hard to establish considering the high turnover of start-ups (opening and winding down). Studying a precise geographic location (province of Quebec, Canada), the rapid growth of the industry has been observed since 2015 with an average annual growth in the number of companies of 29% (TFIC, 2022). But defining the growth over the larger NA region is challenging because there is no organization officially responsible for keeping track of the industry growth. By combining the information from the edible Quebec Insect Sectorial Table (TFIC), Natural Product Canada (NPC) and the North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture (NACIA) members, it was possible to obtain a rough estimate of 41 insect producers in Canada and 21 in the United States in 2022 (NPC, 2022; TFIC, 2022). In addition, there were 22 companies offering insect-based products in Canada and one in the United States (Figure 1). A better knowledge of the number of active companies is required to better evaluate the growth of the industry. Map of edible insect producers (orange beetle, excluding producers of live insects for the pet market and research centers) and processors (green facility) in Canada and the United States. As with any new industry sector, NA insect agriculture has faced challenges of consistency, with highly varied methods of production and downstream processing being applied to the three major industrial species. Harmonization efforts are underway, including an industry-led initiative through the NACIA to adapt the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) best practices guideline for NA producers. International efforts to harmonize feed assay protocols for black soldier flies (Bosch et al., 2019) and mealworms (Deruytter et al., 2022), including NA research groups and industries, are also deployed to help accelerate the optimization of insect nutrition. Increasing consistency of production should help engage early adopters, relying on insect protein and oils that meet their certificates of conformity. But increasing consistency may also help the second major challenge of the industry—production scale. The market pull for alternate proteins and healthy oils vastly outstrips the current global insect production to such a degree that currently no individual insect farm alone, nor all insect farms combine, for a given species could meet the scale needed for the successful commercialization of an insect-based aquaculture feed, pet food or poultry feed. With more consistent production from multiple insect farms, the outputs can be pooled and begin to fuel the production of downstream insect-based products. The appetite for sustainable, nutrient-rich, high-quality protein and oils from insects has already been demonstrated in aquaculture, pet food, and animal feed. In fact, the barrier to widespread market penetration is scale. In Canada for example, the minimum tonnage for commercial launch of a national dog food with insect protein is 10 tonnes. A scale hardly met by any individual Canadian farm to date. According to a market study lead by Enterra, the demand for high-quality insect ingredients and products was 150,000 T in NA and Europe in 2020 and is expected to increase with a high growth rate (Jowett, 2020) which needs to be estimated. In 2019, European production was estimated at 500 T and is expected to expand to 260,000 T by 2030 (Grau et al., 2022; Mancini et al., 2022). Therefore, considering the advance of the European production volume, the immediate demand for insect products was not reached when combining both productions. Two market expansion strategies are unfolding in NA (Figure 2). First, there is a “gold rush” to increase the production volumes of individual industrial players and secure market shares while reducing product prices. This strategy is the most common, but it represents the highest risk with important capital requirements while the market is slowly expanding. In 2023 Aspire Food Group’s “world’s largest” cricket farm should reach full capacity and Entosystem brings their 100,000 sq ft black soldier fly expansion facility online, but significant growth is needed across the sector to meet and then sustain market penetration of insect protein and oil. In the United States, several companies have undergone significant development, such as Enviroflight, InnovaFeed, Beta Hatch, PreZero, and soon, Ynsect and Protix will help address capacity issues there. The second strategy for edible insect sectorial growth involves tight cooperation between smaller specialized (decentralization) enterprises (nursery, bioconversion, and processing) deployed over a wider geographical area (Grau et al., 2022), similar to the conventional poultry and pig farming industry. This approach has been demonstrated in Europe and is slowly gaining traction in NA. If each market (dog food, aquaculture feed, and poultry feed, etc.) requires a minimum of 100,000 tonnes to fulfill the market need in NA, then even global production, let alone NA production, will continue to fall short for the next 5–10 yr unless efforts are made to sustain sectorial growth as a whole. Much hinges on the success of these recent expansions, as they are per if they are proven commercially viable and the combination of protein, oil and frass sales provides them with profitability, then their traction should pave the path for additional production capacity. Market expansion strategies: (a) centralized and integrated plan, (b) centralized nursery with decentralized bioconversion and processing, (c) centralized nursery and processing with decentralized bioconversion and (d) decentralized plan. Adapted from figures in Grau et al. (2022). The edible insect industry is generating several coproducts that can be redirected toward five main markets, human food, pet food, feed, fertilizer, and other applications, which include pharmaceutical and cosmetics. Both in Canada and the United States, there are federal requirements that supersede provincial or state legislatures in the food, feed, and fertilizer sectors which can sometimes make regulations that pertain to insects difficult to navigate. Historic regulations on insects generally regarded them as filth and potential agents of adulteration in food. Insect-specific regulations are still lacking making the regulatory scenery uncertain for market expansion. Canada’s regulations consider that if there is a documented history of traditional consumption of a food item elsewhere on the globe, it can be sold here without further regulatory constraints, but must first undergo the novelty determination process. Because of this, several insect species are already considered as nonnovel food, including, but not exclusively, the mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) and the banded cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus) (Government of Canada, 2022a). insect species which is not on the of nonnovel for food and food ingredients (Government of Canada, such as or black soldier a food determination which companies must the history of consumption. if the insect species was considered a food by the novelty determination a of the and to market (Government of Canada, this federal each is responsible for agricultural production and food et al., 2017). The regulatory the Food and insects as food the and As with other edible insects could be as if a or a demonstrated on or et al., 2017). But these are in a nascent industry. edible insects may be considered food as they may or the of food, and as it requires review and by the While on insects as food are still the has on the that insects may be considered food if that is their and if they the regulatory requirements of other requirements being and and processed practices and Insects for animal consumption or in the may not be to the food market. Because regulations are still to insects as food, each markets it at or food is required for individual insect species which could the capacity. a few in Canada pet food and but insect ingredients must be in (TFIC, 2022) and producers to and an of for pet food In the United States, pet food is the of American Feed In the black soldier fly ingredient as for which the potential for a market in the United States 2021). must still be for per and all three in insect producers with insect species must through the for their feed ingredients in all dog and In the United States, the organization for regulations with animal feed is This which is of individual state control and their provides for the and of animal feed, including pet food, across from to the of regulations is by the and state In most regulatory are to with the is With that to is challenging in as to the of the in the marketing and of animal feed ingredients that have The current regulations and that the for animal are to the of the This that if a to make such as to the growth or per per production, or the product is considered a and requires a and and more process. regulations are as by the animal feed industry and are many other including the Canada, and and in nascent such as insect Insect frass is one of oldest across the by insects. (Figure and for insect frass across species et al., 2022) and production Frass is an important insect production which could be an to the expansion of the edible insect sector, if some of The of coproducts from edible insect production as a fertilizer or also on provincial or state Frass from the three main edible insect species in North America (a) (b) black soldier and (c) mealworm (TFIC, 2022). the biological of insects as the Canadian now insects from the of generating manure. This in that the and of frass for currently as as of to a for the Canadian Food for as an fertilizer and The and capital required to may the edible insect sectorial growth. the frass from the frass as insect which the regulatory for and frass is defined as from the production of the of of insect and which may variable of or food (TFIC, 2022). The of frass in or in may provincial by environmental frass is sold in Quebec (TFIC, 2022), industrial research to frass which is to and is United States. 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This is best by the of the per for through Insect The as a between industry and in address the most research the next of and expand the research by that have not in this sector. 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