SINGAPORE – Frustrations are mounting among companies that are looking to sell insects as food, with some mulling over business closure, as the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) delays its approval for the sale of these species for human consumption.

In April 2023, SFA said that 16 species of insects – including crickets, silkworms and grasshoppers – will receive the green light for consumption in the second half of 2023, given that the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation has promoted their benefits as a sustainable form of protein.

Crickets are like a superfood – full of protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre.

As at Jan 19, SFA has not given the approval. The European Union and countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand allow the consumption of certain insect species.

The Straits Times asked SFA for the reason behind the delay, when the approval can be expected, and if SFA will be extending support to affected businesses.

In reply, a spokeswoman said the agency is finalising the implementation details and “will announce the date of effect in due course”.

“We are also aware of some interest from food business operators on the import of insect and insect products as food and will continue to engage them to provide relevant assistance,” she added.

Industry players that had started gearing up in 2023 for local product launches are now finding themselves in limbo, with some considering exiting the business altogether.

Currently, there are at least four companies in the insect protein space in Singapore.

Mr Christopher Leow, chief executive and co-founder of Singapore-based Future Protein Solutions, which was founded in 2019, initially wanted to test the local market to see how receptive Singaporeans would be to consuming insects like crickets.

“I embarked on research and development (R&D) to develop different consumer products made from crickets, including chocolates, pastas and even prata,” he said.

Cricket farming is thought to be more sustainable than conventional poultry farming, as it uses far less water, feed and land, thus emitting minimal greenhouse gas emissions. 

Cricket waste can also be used as fertiliser for plants.

To determine if it would be cost-effective and sustainable to farm crickets on home soil, Mr Leow piloted a small, high-tech cricket farm in Lim Chu Kang in 2021. 

At its peak, the farm produced 60kg to 120kg of crickets a month for R&D.

But without SFA approval, nothing the farm has harvested can be sold.   

“Our investor eventually pulled out their funding, and we had to stop all operations,” he told ST. 

“We haven’t formally closed down our business yet, in case there is a lucky break further down the line.

“But for now, the co-founders will move on to other endeavours,” he added. 

Either way, developing a cricket farm in Singapore – and by extension, running a business in the insect protein industry as a whole – is a challenging feat, considering the lack of incentives or grants to lower the costs of pilot projects, R&D and market testing.

Grants for alternative protein companies are only for those working on plant-based protein, microbes-based protein, and cultivated meat – and not insects.

There is also no zoning of land for insect farming, unlike for vegetable farms, said Mr Leow. 

Co-founder Yuvanesh T.S. of Asia Insect Farm Solutions, which produces cricket powder for use in flour and cookies, said business has been slow over the past year. 

When the Singapore-based company started in 2021, it exported to consumers in Britain and the United States, but that ended in 2023 as sales were poor.

In December 2023, the company launched nutritional snack crisps incorporating cricket flour under the brand name Plento, which was done in collaboration with Bugsolutely Bangkok, an insect protein firm in Thailand.

“We wanted to focus on snacks (with a small portion of insect ingredients), because we realised that edible insect consumer products are not appealing to consumers,” said Mr Yuvanesh.

The company is looking to do a test run in Thailand first to see how things go, before deciding on its next steps, he added.

“It’s quite likely that I’ll stop running the company if things do not look up over the next few months. I can’t justify doing business at a loss,” he said.

For Ms Christina Rasmussen, the co-founder of future-food themed bar Fura, the absence of approval for insects meant having to remove about a quarter of the bar’s food menu. 

With a strong focus on sustainable dining, Fura, which opened for business in Singapore in September 2023, spotlights ingredients that are either abundant or in excess, such as locusts, crickets and mealworms.

“We curated our dishes carefully, based on SFA’s list of approved species, and we also sourced our insects responsibly, ensuring that there’s proper certification from the farms to ensure traceability,” said Ms Rasmussen. 

After learning that it was not allowed to sell any insect-based dishes without SFA’s formal approval, the bar had to remove some items from its menu, as well as tweak the recipes of other dishes.

This disappointed some customers who were drawn to the outfit’s novelty, Ms Rasmussen said.

No details were given on when SFA’s approval would come either, despite months of asking the authorities for an update, she said.

“This was a massive blow for us, as it really takes away the spirit and vision of what we had initially set out to do,” she added.

Meanwhile, local company Altimate Nutrition, which creates protein bars made from cricket flour, is set to launch in the United Kingdom by March or April, said its co-founder Gavriel Tan.

While he is disappointed by the delay in approval here, the setback did not stop the 23-year-old from turning to the market in the UK, where he is currently doing his undergraduate studies in biological sciences at the University College London. 

“We have secured on-paper approval to sell in the UK, so we are finishing up discussion with some retailers here,” he said.

In Singapore, the company had decided to focus on public education efforts, while engaging local retailers and distributors in anticipation of the sale of its cricket-based protein bars, which come in six flavours, such as matcha green tea and mixed berries.

Altimate Nutrition has inked a partnership with the House of Seafood restaurant to serve an array of insect dishes – ranging from crickets to mealworms to silkworm pupae – which will start once SFA gives the go-ahead, said Mr Tan.