Tenebrio Molitor

In the same few weeks that a compulsory housing order for chickens was announced publicly because of Bird Flu, the EU also authorized the use of mealworms as a novel food. The company Nutriearth in France are leading the way here with the only authority to sell yet... A very fancy website with plenty of the right words. Selling pet food and supplements, the mealworm is being well utilized for its properties of being a protein substitute. So between doggie dinners and vitamin D supplements we are slowly being sensitized and what starts out as novel becomes standard..but how do you make people buy in to the concept??
 
Here is what they say about it themselves…
 
Among all edible insects, Tenebrio molitor (or mealworm) is the first insect approved by the European Food Safety Authority as a novel food under specific conditions and uses, testifying to its growing relevance and potential.
 
Tenebrio molitor is not only suitable for animal feed, but is also considered ideal for human consumption and has even been recommended as a bio-regenerative survival food for space missions.
 
A bio regenerative survival food for space missions….. I can hear echoes of another generation saying it clearly   “what planet are they on??”  
 
Meanwhile the culling of chicken has begun in Northern Ireland. Thousands of birds culled because a flu virus is detected. Imagine the same approach on humans? The kill all approach is considered the answer…like roundup, broad spectrum antibiotics will we eventually realise that it is counterproductive to the health of the species? How about survival of the fittest strategy? Or does progress in science and immunology count for anything now? Selective science I’d say.
 
Or perhaps the investors in meal worms are keen to take the market once and for all? Cutting out the middlechicken and we can eat the meal worms direct. What a cost saver! 

​Anne Maher