A pair of Ducks have a business plan revolving around ground crickets.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
A pair of Ducks have a business plan revolving around ground crickets.
Charles Wilson and Omar Ellis have launched Cricket Flours and are taking aim at global hunger.
The Associated Press wrote about the Eugene-based startup yesterday:
Crickets, which are related to shrimp, are high in protein, calcium, iron and vitamin B12. While crickets are rarely eaten (except maybe on a dare) in the United States, they are consumed in other countries.
“Eighty percent of the world eats bugs,” Ellis said. “It’s just Westerners who don’t.”
Oregon Business covered the insects-as-food trend in its November/December issue:
During a brief adult life of four or five days, the black soldier fly spends its time focused on mating, an act performed aerially. It does not pause to eat, lacking the mouth parts for that. The fly’s larvae, on the other hand, are among the most ravenous and least picky eaters on earth. They readily devour rotting food, cannery waste, hog manure and other garbage, transforming it into high-quality protein and fat. That’s caught the attention of entrepreneurs who think soldier flies can be harnessed to recycle waste and grow larvae that can be processed into livestock feeds and perhaps even supplements for people.
Read the entire story here.
