When there is no money for beef, could insects be the next 'Superfood'?

Aldi considers selling edible INSECTS to help families through the cost-of-living crisis, - reveals “The Daily Mail”. Aldi is considering selling edible insect recipe kits as the cost of living crisis hits families.

Bugs such as crickets are known to be a cheap and sustainable form of protein.

Now Aldi is weighing up whether to stock products by Yum Bug, which make the insect recipe kits. Yum Bug founders Aaron Thomas and Leo Taylor (photo), both 28, are competing against other start-ups to get their product on the supermarket's shelves.

To promote their business, they even created a television series – the six-part TV series sees suppliers compete in categories such as dinners, baked goods, treats and store cupboard essentials.

Mr. Thomas, from Islington, London, said: 'We're on a mission to change perceptions of insects as food; they're one of the most sustainable protein sources in the world. Crickets are up to 70 per cent protein, which is three times the amount of protein found in beef. They are an incredible superfood.

We want to take bug consumption mainstream. If we're able to get in front of Aldi's audience, that would be an amazing opportunity, said Mr Thomas.

Edible insects have been touted as the next 'superfood', with the creepy crawlies packed full of protein, nutrients, potassium, magnesium and three times more fatty acids than omega-3 in salmon.

Crickets are the most widely cultivated insects for the human diet across the world and are considered the ‘gateway bug’ for people who choose to eat insects.

They, along with other insects are touted as highly nutritious and much better for the planet - environmentally and financially - than traditional livestock, due to the comparatively efficient rate at which they convert feed into body mass.

The global population is predicted to top nine billion by 2050, putting enormous pressure on the environment, conventional food sources and farming techniques. Insects could help meet demand for food.

Plenty of people in non-Western countries already eat insects regularly. They are very efficient at converting vegetation into edible protein and full of vitamins and minerals, - assures “The Daily Mail”.

Meanwhile the question looms large – are people in the West ready to eat cockroaches and the like?

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