Protein of the Future?

Photo: fao.org

Nawaya's was locally sponsored to attend an international conference hosted by Wageningen (pronounced "Va-khe-nin-gen) University and the FAO, whose focus was on the potential of farming insects for human food, as well as for animal feed. Attending this international event with over 450 participants was an inspiring event, presenting insects as a healthy and easily farmed protein source. The main interest was to better understand how Nawaya's Fayoumi (Bigawy) slow-growing chicken could be more cost-efficiently grown with a local feed source that could be implemented by small scale farmers. Interestingly, insects can be raised on food scraps and waste that aren't suitable for composting, making a highly attractive conversion rate, turning one creature's garbage into another creature's high-quality feed. What's more, chicken are genetically programed to eat insects, their development requires the intake of amino acids like methionine and lysine, naturally present in insects but chemically added in commercial chicken feed. To top it off, the ecological argument is that in such a small space with such little resources, protein can be farmed, and replace traditional soybean meal* that requires large amounts of land, water and resources -- better fit for human consumption, not for chicken!

Photo:wageningenur.nl

Insects in many countries have been traditionally eaten and collected, or for example in the Arab peninsula eaten during seasonal infestations. Insect consumption does however have a big "ew" factor, let alone that many people do not associate insects as healthy source of food. At the conference presenters tackled the consumer preferences, looking at everything from festivals, high end restaurants and chefs, just as importantly as research on infant growth and food industries exploring how insect protein also act as flavor enhancers. This idea is looking at the insects industry from a "bottom-up" approach, as cheap protein - then from a "top-down" as a new food fashion, that takes ground fast like Sushi restaurants. Farming insects will be accepted over time, and could be the future for cheaper more ecologically produced proteins, however it was constantly reminded that this industry is not the silver bullet that will save a 9 billion world from starvation. It is rather a new sector full of potential, and full of research needs - indeed the conference created a platform for many new partnerships and collaborations to take place. Nawaya will build on these to seek out its own path in Egypt to experiment with insects for chicken feed, hoping to find a silver bullet for indigenous poultry breeds to be competitive in the market, and in the long term to offer a healthy feed alternative that is locally produced.

by Laura Tabet

*Soybean meal is a solid by-product flour made from leftovers after grinding the soybean to extract soybean oil. It is used as a source of protein in animal feed, including chicken, cattle, horse, pig, sheep, and fish feed (adapted from wikipidia).