Crickets

 Cricket Nutrition Facts

Primarily, crickets are an excellent source of shelf-stable, lean protein. Ground cricket powders available in the Australian market contain around 65% protein, which means a 20g snack size serve contains 12g protein. As for other macronutrients; they contain around 20% fat and 18% fibre. 

Whether eaten whole or ground, the exoskeleton is consumed, which is why crickets are an excellent source of calcium, ranging from 130-200mg/100g depending on feed source; which means ~ 50g serve of crickets gives you as much calcium as one cup of milk. 

The exoskeleton is also rich in a fibre called chitin, which being indigestible is a great prebiotic (feed for your gut microbiome!)

A 2019 analysis of the nutritional value of edible cricket powders published in the journal of Food Chemistry, found them further to be rich magnesium and iron, but most of all, the levels of micronutrients copper, manganese and zinc were especially high (2.33-4.51, 4.1-12.5, 12.8-21.8 mg/100 g of dry matter, respectively).

Exceptionally small eco footprint 

Farming crickets uses a fraction of the land, carbon, and water compared to traditional livestock - producing approximately 1% of greenhouse gases compared to beef cattle, and less than 0.1% of the water and land. 

Crickets are also exceptionally good at converting food into edible tissue — about twice as efficient as chickens and pigs, and more than five times as efficient as beef cattle. Not only that, but they can be fed a wide variety of organic matter including agricultural bi-products.

References

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, ‘Edible Insects: Future prospects for food and feed security’ available from http://www.fao.org/edible-insects/en/ 

Montowska et al 2019 ‘Nutritional value, protein and peptide composition of edible cricket powders’ Journal of Food Chemistry vol 289 p.130-138

Abdalbasit Adam Mariod, Mohamed Elwathig Saeed Mirghani and Ismail Hussein 2017, Acheta domesticus House Cricket, Unconventional Oilseeds and Oil Sources, Academic Press

Crickster https://www.eatcrickster.com/blog/edible-insect-nutrition 

Circle Harvest 2021 https://circleharvest.com.au/pages/why-eat-bugs 

Stull et al 2018, Impact of Edible Cricket Consumption on Gut Microbiota in Healthy Adults, a Double-blind, Randomized Crossover Trial, Journal of Scientific Reports 

Exo 2021, Why Crickets https://exoprotein.com/pages/why-crickets 

Inforgraphics sourced from Crickers https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crickers/crickers-delicious-healthy-snacks-with-cricket-flo/description