The mealworms rather than the beef

Photo special collaboration, Amélie St-Yves
Gabriel Dubois and Samuel Richard are raising 35 000 to of flour, and 2000 ténébrions millers adults in a small room in Louiseville. Four scorpions (including one on a hand) live there also, because they want to give lectures in schools.

Amélie St-Yves

Wednesday, 7 march, 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Wednesday, 7 march, 2018 01:00

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LOUISEVILLE | Three students who start a worm farming intended for human consumption explain that eating insects instead of beef is better for human health and for the environment.

• READ ALSO: Build on the good taste of the insects

Samuel Richard, Gabriel Dubois and Jonathan Joly, three biology students from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), are working to breed the mealworms, they also intended to end their life powder.

They have 35 000 and aim at a production of 2.5 million per month.

The worms will then be frozen or boiled, dried in the oven, and then crushed to produce flour high in protein, which may be included in pastries, breads or granola bars.

“I partook of a time when I had my lizard. I ate mealworms and crickets, the living, but also dried, ” says Samuel Richard.

Ecological and nutritious

He believes that there are benefits to eating insects rather than beef. They cost less to produce, are less fatty and just as nutritious.

One hundred grams of mealworms contain an average of 14 to 25 grams of protein, substantially the same as the ground beef. They also include vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.

Twice a week, the students leave scraps of vegetables in the trays of insects, separate the worms, the pupae and the adults, and then moisten the trays with a bottle that sprays water. The trio hopes to begin selling in the fall, but has not fixed its price for the moment.

Gabriel Dubois has never eaten insects. It has above all been attracted by the environmental.

“If you give 10 kg of plant food to the insects or to the oxen, it is possible to create 1 kg of beef, but 9 kg of worms “, he explains.

To produce a kilo of beef, we need more of 15 000 litres of water, while this is in milliliters for insects.

♦ A project of farm of insects was established in Frelighsburg, Montérégie, but was recently put on ice due to a problem of governance. The owners are seeking an investor.