Mealworm protein - from prototype to product
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Tebrito AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 400 000 |
| Project duration | February 2017 - November 2017 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
Insects rearing for human consumption is climate smart, healthy and resource efficient compared with conventional meat production. Our approach is that people have easier to accept an insect protein as a neutral food ingredient instead of eating whole insects, which is supported in recent research. The project was very successful and represented a major step towards our goal of launching large-scale automated production of edible insects in Sweden.
Expected results and effects
Insects as food are now on the Food Agency´s agenda and a review of the legal situation was initiated by them during the project period. Our process of protein extraction has been successfully developed for industrial applications. The result is a 88% protein powder that is white, taste neutral. This has attracted great interest. We have also taken the first steps towards launching large-scale production facilities of edible insects in Sweden
Planned approach and implementation
We successfully managed to develop the company´s protein extraction process, in collaboration with other actors and experts in the field. We developed our business model in collaboration with incubators, and work to initiate industrial production of edible insects was carried out. A strategy was developed to make the swedish national food agency to review its position on edible insects, in order to allow sales like the other nordic countries.