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Eat Bugs! EU Pressing member States to Promote Climate Friendly Insect Protein Diets

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/05/27/eat-bugs-eu-pressing-member-states-to-promote-climate-friendly-insect-protein-diets/

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Breitbart; European taxpayer’s money is once again being spent on promoting ultra-processed food insect protein meat substitutes, to save the world from climate change.

Are Europeans ready for an insect-based diet?

By  Florence Schulz |  EURACTIV.de | translated by  Daniel Eck

While insect-based foods have so far been a niche product, they are viewed as a highly promising solution to the challenges facing the food industry. Although new EU regulations should pave the way for these products, European eating habits will have to change too. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Since the start of 2019, customers of the German supermarket chain Kaufland have had the choice between garlic and herb flavoured mealworms, or buffalo worms with hints of sour cream and onion.

And foods made from insects, such as chocolate bars, granola, pasta or burgers, are also appearing in other major supermarkets all over Europe.

“Customers who buy insect-based foods are primarily looking for a new eating experience. Our task is to translate this into products that fit our normal eating habits,” said Bastien Rabastens, founder of French company Jimini’s, which supplies Kaufland.

Rabastens’ biggest challenge is what the industry calls the “yuck factor”.

By 2030, every person will eat an average of 10% more meat than in 2015, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The rising consumption of meat represents a massive environmental burden – not only because of the methane emissions coming from billions of animals but also because producing their animal feed requires a lot of land and water, which in turn would be lacking for the production of food for humans.

Read more: https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/are-europeans-ready-for-an-insect-based-diet/

This persistent effort to put insanely processed insect protein on everyone’s plate, in the name of healthy eating and saving the planet, reminds me of the time pop tarts made it to the top of the health food chart. When your chain of food value logic leads to absurdity, sometimes it is worth pausing to ask how you got there.

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