Edible insects contain a lot of protein, trace elements, healthy fats, and vitamins!
Insects as food are rich in nutrients. The house cricket contains plenty of protein, iron, creatine, calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamins, (especially vitamin B12!!), and antioxidants. It also contains a lot of healthy fats, having the fish’s type of omega fatty acid division between the omega-3 and omega-6.
Did you know that in grasshoppers, there are five times more antioxidants than in oranges?
With its high vitamin B12 content and healthy nourishment composition, insect food is ideal for balancing otherwise mostly vegetarian diets.
The chitin to be obtained from the insect food and its breakdown products, chitooligosaccharides, and chitosan operate like dietary fiber and lower the blood’s cholesterol. They also have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects. Furthermore, it has been stated that chitin and its breakdown products will prevent the growth of most harmful intestines bacteria.
Edible insects are real superfoods!
Insect food can help us in keeping the food system within environmental limits. Did you know that producing a kilo of beef requires 12 times more feed, 100 times more space and 22,000 times more water than producing a kilogram of insects? In addition, producing a kilogram of beef causes 50 times more methane emissions than producing a kilogram of edible insects! The insects offer a new, lasting, ethical, and delicious way to produce the proteins which are necessary to all of us.
Eating insects and edible bugs has always been around!
Entomophagy, which describes the practice of eating insects by humans, has long traditions and has always been around. Ancient Romans and Greeks luxuriated with edible bugs and other edible insects. Aristotle feasted on the song cicadas, and Pliny the Elder was crazy about the beetle larvae. It is indeed a paradox that the other sides of the ancient culture are valued in Western countries. Still, the habit of luxuriating with the edible bugs has not received the attention it deserves. Cockchafers were considered a delicacy in France, Germany, Italy, Moldova, and Wallachia long until the 20th century. And before the new coming of the edible insects, the French used to crunch grasshoppers between wine glasses. Today in Sardinia, the maggot-infested cheese, casu martzu, is considered a delicacy and an intrinsic part of Sardinian food culture.
Insect consumption is prevalent in 80% of the world. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for approximately 2.5 billion people, mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, eating insects is part of their common diets, in a similar way as eating meat or fish. Every year, we all eat at least half a kilo of insects hidden inside and as a part of our regular food. Why did Europeans then not eat more insects? The answer is simple. Compared to the tropical countries, the European insects are small in size and difficult to pick up. It was just easier to fish, hunt or raise cattle than try to collect enough wild insects for a meal.
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Eating insects is, however, coming back to the Western World. For some years, in some EU countries, it has been possible to buy food-quality roasted and even frozen home crickets, locusts, buffalo worms, and mealworms. One by one, new edible insect species are introduced to the market. The yellow mealworm (tenebrio molitor) was the first edible insect approved by the European Food Agency (EFSA) and we are now waiting for the European Commission to make the same decision and put them on the Union list of Novel food. The house crickets (Acheta Domesticus) will probably be the next edible insect species that will be legalized all over Europe.
Why eat Party Bugs?
Party Bugs are ready-to-eat party snacks made from farmed and roasted, edible crickets.
Party Bugs is party food for everybody and every party. Finely designed Party Bugs products fit in all parties ranging from bars, restaurants, night clubs to movies, festivals, sports events, and home parties. Try Party Bugs as beer snacks or with a glass of wine!
Our edible bugs and crickets are not deep-fried but roasted. That’s why they do not contain unhealthy trans fats and carbohydrates that are so common in traditional snacks like potato chips.
Flavored with natural spices, Party Bugs roasted cricket snacks are manually packed in Finland.
Eating healthier
and
saving the planet
come as a bonus!
Scientific article references to the health-related statements above
Williams, J.P.& Williams, J.R., Kirabo, A. & Chester, D. & Peterson, M. (2016), “Nutrient Content and Health Benefits of Insect“, in Insects as Sustainable Food Ingredients — Production, Processing and Food Applications , Ch 3, Pages 61–84, edited by Dossey, Aaron T. & Morales-Ramos, Juan A. & M. Guadalupe Rojas, Academic Press, Elsevier Inc.
Rumpold, Birgit A. & Schlüter, Oliver K. (2013), “Nutritional composition and safety aspects of edible insects“, Molecular Nutrition & Food Research , Volume 57, Issue 5, May 2013, Pages 802-823. WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Belluco, Simone & Losasso, Carmen & Maggioletti, Michela & Alonzi, Cristiana C. & Paoletti, Maurizio G. & Ricci, Antonia, (2013), “Edible Insects in a Food Safety and Nutritional Perspective: A Critical Review“, Comprehensive REVIEWS in Food Science and Food Safety , Volume 12, Issue 3, May 2013, Pages 296-313, A Publication of the Institute of Food Technologists .
Banjo, A.D, & Lawal, O.A. & Songonuga, E.A., (2006), “The nutritional value of fourteen species of edible insects in southwestern Nigeria“, African Journal of Biotechnology , Volume 5, Issue 3, Pages 298-301, 2 February 2006.
Ghosha, Sampat & Lee, So-Min & Jung, Chuleui & Meyer-Rochowcd, V.B., (2017), “Nutritional composition of five commercial edible insects in South Korea“, Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology , Volume 20, Issue 2, June 2017, Pages 686-694, Elsevier Inc.
DeFoliart, Gene R. (Emeritus Professor), (1992), “Insects as human food: Gene DeFoliart discusses some nutritional and economic aspects“, Crop Protection , Volume 11, Issue 5, October 1992, Pages 395-399, Elsevier Inc.
Ramos-Elorduya, Julieta & Morenoa, Jose Manuel Pino & Prado, Esteban Escamilla, Perez, Manuel Alvarado & Oteroc, Jaime Lagunez & Guevarad, Oralia Ladronde (1997), “Nutritional Value of Edible Insects from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico“, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis , Volume 10, Issue 2, June 1997, Pages 142-157.
Bukkens, Sandra G.F., (2010), “The nutritional value of edible insects“, Ecology of Food and Nutrition , Volume 36, 1997 – Issue 2-4, Pages 287-319. Taylor & Francis .
Di Mattia, Carla & Battista, Natalia & Sacchetti, Giampiero & Serafini, Mauro, (2019), “Antioxidant Activities in vitro of Water and Liposoluble Extracts Obtained by Different Species of Edible Insects and Invertebrates“, Frontiers in Nutrition , 15 July 2019.
Azuma, Kazuo & Osaki, Tomohiro & Minami, Saburo & Okamoto, Yoshiharu, (2015), “Anticancer and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Chitin and Chitosan Oligosaccharides“, Journal of Functional Biomaterials , Volume 6, Issue 1, 2015 March, Pages 33–49.
Je, Jae-Young & Kim, Se-Kwon, (2012), “Chitooligosaccharides as Potential Nutraceuticals: Production and Bioactivities“, Ch. 21 in Advances in Food and Nutrition Research , Volume 65, 2012, Pages 321-336, Elsevier Inc.
Ngo, Dai-Hung & Kim, Se-Kwon, (2014), “Antioxidant Effects of Chitin, Chitosan, and Their Derivatives“, Ch. 2 in
Advances in Food and Nutrition Research , Volume 73, 2014, Pages 15-31, Elsevier Inc.
Benhabilesa, M.S. & Salah, R. & Lounici, H. & Drouiche, N. & Goosend, M.F.A. & Mameri, N., (2012), “Antibacterial activity of chitin, chitosan and its oligomers prepared from shrimp shell waste“, Food Hydrocolloids , Volume 29, Issue 1, October 2012, Pages 48-56, Elsevier Inc.
Je, Jae-Young & Kim, Se-Kwon, (2006), “Antioxidant activity of novel chitin derivative“, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters , Volume 16, Issue 7, 1 April 2006, Pages 1884-1887, Elsevier Inc.
