Crickets as sustainable food

Fernandez-Cassi X, Supeanu A, Vaga M, Jansson A, Boqvist S and Vagsholm I. 2019. The house cricket (Acheta domesticus) as a novel food: a risk profile (Review). Journal of Insects as Food and Feed. https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2018.0021

We have been active doing several oral presentations during the past months! The 12:th of March Anna had a presentation at RISE (RISE Research Institutes of Sweden) and in March 26 also in a panel discussion at the Nobel museum in Stockholm. This discussion is available in a Podd version (in Swedish, “Allt du velat veta”). The 26:th of April some pupils from a Swedish gymnasium on the west coats visited us! Ambitious guys who had won a price for their gymnasium thesis!

We have a new paper in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The paper describes the lack of knowledge to make the field of insects-as-food  sustainable. We highlight major areas that should be focused on and what research needs to be carried out: Approaching ecological sustainability in the emerging insects-as-food industry  

We have recently published a paper on a new and efficient way to screen for the detrimental virus AdDV in crickets see. Read our paper here!

Kocken Paul Svensson och hans team har tagit fram två läckra dessertalternativ som kan passa till nyår!

Chef Paul Svensson and his team have produce two awesome desserts that could fit on the new year menu!

Anna J will have a presentation at an international conference in Vientiane, Lao PDR (17-19 December). The conference is entitled “Improving food security and income generation in Lower Mekong Basin through sustainable farming systems under climate change”  and is supported by Swedish SIDA, SLU and also by local organisations. Her talk is entitled “Entomophagy – is it of relevance also for Europe?” For questions about the conference please contact daovyk@yahoo.com

Ida Waern at the department of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry (AFB at SLU) got 3 millions in fundning from Formas! The project is called “Insects as new food – new cases of allergy?” (Framtidens mat insekter – finns det allergirisker?) and will be performed in collaboration with researchers from AFB (Sara Wernersson and Anna Jansson), Uppsala university hospital (Akademiska sjukhuset) and Thermo fisher (Magnus Borres among others).

 

 

Xavier Fernandez‐Cassi and Alexandru  Supeanu (both on a EFSA fellowship at SLU) did a great job working on a  report while being at SLU: “Novel foods: a risk profile for the house cricket (Acheta domesticus)”. (Fernandez‐Cassi X,  Supenu A,  Jansson A,  Boqvist S and  Vagsholm I. 2018.  EFSA Journal 16.) https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.e16082

We had two contributions to the conference this summer; “Evaluation of reusable hiding units for rearing house crickets” (M. Vaga, E. Gustafsson, A. Jansson) and also “Morphology and localization of carbonic anhydrase in the digestive tract of the house cricket” (L. Holm, E. Thorsson, A. Jansson). The latter abstract was based on the work by veterinary student Elina Thorsson and her master Thesis (to be found here: https://slub-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=SLUB_EPSILON_STUD13415&context=L&vid=SLUB_V1&search_scope=default_scope&tab=default_tab&lang=sv_SE).

The project has been subject to a lot of media attention during this autumn! First a journalist from “Universitetsläraren” was here and then also Swedish Televison and UNT (Uppsala Nya tidning)!