Bug Eaters Lobby

Crickets now have their own lobbyists — or, at least people who think we should eat crickets do.

They’re trying to convince the Food and Drug Administration to give them its seal of approval.

They call themselves “the edible-insect community,” but their official name is the North American Edible Insect Coalition, established at a meeting of 30 companies in May.

(And if you were wondering, a person who eats bugs is an entomophagist.)

The coalition’s policy goal is to persuade the FDA to classify mealworms, cricket protein powder and comparably icky products to the agency’s list of those “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) ingredients.

You can buy insect parts raised for human consumption, but until they are classified as GRAS, sales will be limited. The spokesperson for a company selling cricket Bolognese sauce says it is having trouble finding cooperative food processors. Processing companies are reluctant, he says, because they aren’t sure what the FDA will think.

Safety is one concern, but a marketing research firm told the group that they should take into consideration another possible barrier: taste.

Even so, the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins has invested an undisclosed sum in Tiny Farms, a company that’s working to reduce the cost of producing insect protein.