Cricketa, Coco-Wormy, Meal-malade are some of the insect-laden products judges will be evaluating and tasting at the ‘Developing Solutions for Developing Countries’ student competition held at the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo (IFT15) in Chicago, US from July 11-14.
The competition judges new products and processes that are targeted at improving the quality of life for people in developing countries.
This year’s contest challenges student teams to develop a nutritious and desirable product using insects as a major ingredient — from cricket cookies, mealworm biscuits, to larvae flours and stews made with spent silkworm pupae.
While not very common in the US, entomogaphy or the eating of insects is common in much of the world.
The advantages to eating insects is that they are a much more efficient and affordable source of protein than livestock, particularly beef and pork.
A total of six university team finalists representing the US, Canada, Costa Rica and Malaysia are participating the competition.
