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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1181452
NOVEMBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 47 BCBUSINESS.CA Gaining consumer acceptance of insects as food is an uphill road (in September, another B.C. cricket effort, Coast Protein, closed shop), but this fall Koby secured her first national distributor, and she plans to release a shelf-stable protein powder in January. "I talk to people and hear, Oh, there are so many opportunities to use cricket protein. Why aren't you seeing it more in the grocery stores?" she says. "And it's like, well, someone has to do it. It takes people continuing to perse- vere, and to introduce it by bringing products to market." Nicole Kilburn, a food anthropologist at Camosun College in Victoria, was a media rep for Bite's major supplier in its first year of business—fielding calls for Entomo about the role of insect protein in different global cultures. For a year after the company's launch in 2014, "it was all about, Oh, don't people think it's dis- gusting?" she recalls. "But then the questions started to change. It became more about the business, the market." Entomo has since tripled its space, to 60,000 square feet, and still sells out every run. Last year saw a significant investment from Maple Leaf Foods, along with a deal to supply powder for the President's Choice product (which will soon expand from Loblaws to Shoppers Drug Mart). And earlier this year, Entomo partnered with Nestlé Purina Petcare to supply crickets for RootLab, its new sustainable dog food brand. "That shift was really profound," Kilburn explains. "By 2015 I stopped working for Entomo—they didn't need me." Now she's fos- tering a new generation of insect protein entre- preneurs in B.C., through her biennial "Pestival" open house at Camosun. At her first event, held five years ago, seven students participated; by her third, in April 2018, she had 40, the festival sold out, and most participants had already tried—or at least encountered—bug protein. The range of products showcased at Pestival has grown, too: a mealworm bolognese being developed in Toronto; a cricket tortilla produced in the U.S. And as more everyday products hit shelves, lingering cultural aversions to insect pro- tein will keep falling away, Kilburn says. The next big step, she reckons, is a textured meat product— something that could sit in the cooler next to the tempeh and veggie burgers. "As consumers, we're starting to shift into the mainstream, and that's pretty exciting," Kilburn says. "It's like Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will come." P E ST I N T E N T IONS Meanwhile, there's a back door into the insect protein market, one that doesn't require the public to accept eating bugs. Since 2012, Langley-based Enterra has been raising black soldier fly larvae for use in agricultural-scale fish and poultry feed—first in a 5,000-square-foot demonstration facility in East Vancouver, and, since 2014, in 60,000-square-foot Langley plant. Now led by CEO Geoff Gyles after founder Brand Marchant retired in 2016, Enterra recently secured funding to build three new $30-million, 200,000-square-foot facilities—one in Balzac, Alberta, that is expected to begin commercial production this fall, a new head office and R&D facility to be built in the Fraser Valley next year, and, in 2021, a foothold in the Midwestern U.S. "The idea sprang up around finding a replacement for fish meal in aquaculture," says Victoria Leung, VP of operations. Right now, most aquaculture feed comes from wild-caught fish, a significant concern as ocean stocks come under pressure and the aquaculture industry continues to grow. "There is only so much we can catch out of the ocean," Leung says. "So there is a definitive need for a sustainable protein immediately." After several years of research, Enterra set- tled on black soldier fly larvae because the grubs must become rich in fat and energy to survive their adult stage—resulting in a nutrient-packed delight for chicken and salmonids, which are already suited to consuming insects. "The adult fly has no mouth parts—it doesn't eat," Leung notes. "So [the larvae] have to eat enough to turn into a fly, mate and reproduce, then after a week they die." The larvae feed on recycled food waste from Canadian Food Inspection Agency–regulated facilities, they require no water beyond what's in the scraps, and the facilities don't need to be situated on arable land. It also helps that the flies don't sting, bite or carry disease—"they're actually a delight to work with," Leung says. And unlike people, the fish and fowl (and soon, through a partnership with Rolf C. Hagen, pets) don't have to be convinced. With just the one facility online before this fall, Enterra has tripled its revenue each year since 2014. "It's supply-constrained, not market- constrained," Leung says. "There are large play- ers out there that you can't even sell to unless you're making thousands of tonnes a year. The demand is there. They're just waiting for us to produce." And would Enterra ever consider skipping the middleman, so to speak? "Human food has always been dangling there as a potential for us. It's certainly something we see long-term," Leung says. "But in the shorter term, it's easier for us to dive into the animal and pet feed mar- ket, where there is greater acceptance and immediate demand." Sustainability-minded restaurateur Meeru Dhalwala will also keep biding her time. "I haven't put it to rest," she says. "I haven't closed the door on it at all. I just can't keep doing crickets. I need to try new things." ■ The world is home to plenty of insects that make for good eating—a market expected to surge in the next few years Bugging Out SOURCES: WAGENINGEN UNIVERSIT Y, ME TICULOUS RESE ARCH. ALL DOLL AR FIGURES IN USD RECORDE D E DIBLE INSECT SPECIE S Globally: 2,111 In Canada: 3 PRO JECTE D GLOB AL MARKET BY 20 3 0 $7.96 billion Consumption 732,684.1 tons INSECT PROTEIN MARKET, 2018 North America $44.1 million Worldwide $153.9 million 27.8% Compound annual growth in consumption, 2019-30