For their first attempt at making food from insects, Sean Warner and Patrick Petaluga started with insect burgers.
Their pie, combining black beans with black soldier fly larvae, was cooked in their Georgia Tech apartment shortly after the United Nations published an influential 2013 report that described insects as the future of food, a natural resource that could help drive up food prices. Meat costs and climate concerns as world population grows.
But the insect burgers didn't taste great, and the entrepreneurs quickly pivoted their Grubbly Farms brand to focus on insect-based foods for dogs and chickens.
The shift from feeding humans to furry and feathered creatures was a practical adaptation to what many startups and established brands saw in their attempts to build a market for these ingredients: Whatever the environmental good, people are not yet willing to eat insects. But they are quite happy to feed these creatures to their pets.
Food for animals is driving demand for insect protein, which could jump 4,900% from 2021 to half a million metric tons by the end of the decade, according to a Rabobank report.
These growth prospects have attracted venture capitalists to the emerging industry. Investors invested $76.77 million in insect-based food companies in 2022 and another $14.92 million last year, according to PitchBook data. Mark Cuban and Robert Downey Jr. are among the investors who have invested money in insect protein companies.
Startups face a difficult balancing act as they try to create demand for their products — which has pushed them away from catering to humans.
“Going too early is just as risky as being too late,” says Phil Poirier, co-founder of Montreal-based Wilder Harrier, whose products include snacks for cricket dogs and dry food for black soldier flies.
Health appeals
Diners have proven to be a tough crowd for insect protein evangelists. Only a quarter of US consumers are willing to incorporate insect ingredients into their regular diet, according to a 2021 YouGov poll that reached a similar conclusion in key European markets such as Germany and the UK.
This reticence reflects that some people are wary of the idea of eating insects, but also the challenge that insect proteins have not yet filled a specific taste or nutritional void.
“Outside of sustainability, in the human food application, edible insects don't solve a clear problem,” says Alessandro Di Trapani, co-founder of insectivore dog food maker Grub Club Pets.
This has left the animal market a more fertile area. Pet foods made from cockroaches and black soldier fly larvae are sold by major retailers including Petco and Chewy.
Tyson Foods announced a partnership in October with insect supplier Protix to build a facility in the United States to manufacture insect proteins and fats for use in pet foods and animal agriculture. Mars Inc. sells Dry cat food made from the larvae of the UK black soldier fly.
Insect foods have proliferated in pet aisles with product descriptions that appeal to health-conscious shoppers, including saying that the food is hypoallergenic in dogs and is good for sensitive stomachs.
Anne Carlson, founder of cricket-based pet food company Gemini, saw a stronger business model — and the potential for a greater environmental impact — in feeding canines.
“Dogs eat the same thing every day, and if you replace it with a sustainable alternative, they will basically have all their eating occasions,” says Carlson, who makes dog food, treats, and dental chews. “That's not the case for people. At best, I'd probably have breakfast every day in the pub.
So far, pet foods have driven volume growth in the insect protein market, said Gorgan Nikolic, a senior analyst at Rabobank who co-authored the report on the sector's potential.
But he expects that will change quickly: Once more research is done and large-scale production lowers prices, Nikolic sees aquaculture becoming the biggest buyer of insect proteins, using them as feed for fish and other seafood. However, pet food is expected to account for about 30% of demand in 2030.
Most farmed livestock and fish are still fed traditional soybeans or fishmeal, which is cheaper than insect feed. As researchers evaluate whether insects could have “functional benefits” such as supporting faster growth or lower mortality, Nikolic said demand from commercial farmers or feed products could increase.
“Multi-decade operation”
Many insect-based pet foods in the United States are black soldier fly products for dogs. That's because the ingredient was the first insect protein officially approved for use in adult dogs by the Association of American Feed Control Officials in 2022. The association does not regulate products, but the designation means the ingredient has been deemed safe and effective by the association and the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine , according to AAFCO Executive Director Austin Therrell.
Dried crickets received official approval for use in adult dog food in January, and mealworms received preliminary approval that same month. No insects are approved for use in cats' diets, although there have been discussions about black soldier fly larvae, Terrell said.
At the same time, the industry has not given up on feeding large numbers of people one day.
Although Grubbly Farms never set out to produce an insect burger patty, co-founder Warner asserts that “the chef could have spiced it up a little bit” and made it tasty enough to market. He remains hopeful that insects will become the mainstay of the human diet, although he believes that will be a “several decades process.”
Jarrod Goldin, who co-founded Ontario-based Entomo Farms in 2014, said he hoped human adoption of insect products would be “more significant” a decade later. The company still believes this will happen, but right now, about 70% of the cockroaches it grows go into pet food.
Ali Moore, head of communications, said that at this point, people are finding it easier to buy food containing insects when they see it as a way to “combat” the culture of feeding corn and soy to animals that don't naturally eat these ingredients. Officer at Oregon-based Chabol Farms.
The company primarily sells black soldier fly products for use as animal feed and fertilizer. Human grade cricket powder accounts for only 5% to 10% of sales.
“It makes a lot of sense to feed insects to animals that don't care if they eat insects the same way humans do,” Moore said.
