FEATURE/Don't let it bug you: Experts want bigger role for edible insects in Taiwan

By Tseng Yi-ning, Shen Pei-yao, Chen Chieh-ling and James Lo, CNA staff reporters and writer

Few can forget the "Hakuna Matata" scene from Disney's 1994 animated movie "The Lion King," where its titular monarch Simba sang the catchy tune with his pals Timon and Pumbaa.

In the number, Simba embraced the chillax lifestyle of the song, and eventually found nutrition in the bugs served to him as the trio's go-to grub.

After his first slurp of a worm, the Lion King himself proclaimed it delicious, describing bugs as "slimy, yet satisfying."

Since the famous scene hit the big screen 30 years ago, the consumption of worms and insects has gone from a comedic "ew" factor to an actual food science seen as a potential nutrition and climate savior.

In 2003, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began promoting the consumption of edible insects because of their abundance of quality protein, vitamins and amino acids.

Insects also have the virtue of requiring far fewer resources, such as feed and land, to raise than traditional sources of animal protein, and they can thrive on organic waste, according to FAO documents published in 2022.

In the case of crickets, for example, they only require one-twelfth the resources that cattle would require to produce the same amount of protein, the documents indicated.

That would mean reduced greenhouse gases and less environmentally toxic ammonia, mitigating climate change and pollution risks.

Bug Appétit

Sounds great, of course, but their uptake in Taiwan has barely crawled forward because of overly restrictive regulations and, yes, the "ew" factor.

Several people, such as academic experts and even travel writers are trying to change that.

Travel program host and writer Huang Shih-chieh (黃仕傑), known as Gallant Man on his Youtube channel, has had many bug delicacies in his travels around the world.

Having dined on the likes of tree bugs served by people who dwell in the mountains of South America 1,600 meters above sea level and more sophisticated dishes prepared in Japan, Huang has promoted the consumption of bugs through several of his books chronicling his adventures.

Others pushing edible insects include Yang Ping-shih (楊平世), a professor emeritus with National Taiwan University's (NTU) Department of Entomology, and Chen Young-fa (陳陽發), a research assistant who specializes in insects at the Experimental Forest under NTU's College of Bio-Resources and Agriculture.

In 2015, the two published an article listing the benefits of eating insects in Nature Conservation Quarterly, a Chinese-language journal issued by the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute.

Chen explained that early farming communities in Taiwan and a number of the island's Indigenous peoples have a long history of catching and consuming bugs, which means eating insects would have the virtue of preserving not only the environment but also local culture.

A bug's destiny?

Yet, Taiwan continues to lag far behind in the field, and not just because insects are well beyond the comfort zones of most Taiwanese.

Another serious barrier, local experts argue, are government policies that both limit and discourage progress, including only having four species on its list of edible bugs, compared to the 1,900 types identified and logged by the FAO across the globe.

According to Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), only red wiggler earthworms (Eisenia andrei), weaver ants (Polyrhachis Vicina Roger), bee pupas, and silkworm chrysalis can be consumed or sold for edible purposes.

Sellers of any other species not on the list without proper government approval would violate the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and be subject to a fine of up to NT$200 million (US$6.17 million).

Ironically, it was a government agency, the Chiayi Forest District Office under the Ministry of Agriculture's Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, that almost got nabbed under the law for hosting an event that hyped eating an unapproved bug.

The office decided that one way to combat the growing population in Taiwan of the lychee giant stink bug (tessaratoma papillosa), a foreign invasive species, was to eat them, and it planned to present the insect in a stir-fried dish on April 27.

Local residents and government officials expressed concern over the idea, however, and the office later said that while there was a demonstration on how to fry the bugs at the end of the event, participants were told not to eat them.

Yet the possibility of a government agency getting a massive fine for supporting a common-sense bug-eating policy only confirmed to experts how ambiguous and obstructive public policy has been on the issue.

A bug in the system

It has also scared off would-be promoters of edible insects, according to former bug snacks business owner Chen Bing-chen (陳秉辰).

A graduate of the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology Department of Industrial Design, Chen, 29, was attempting to introduce packaged mealworms as a snack to the local market.

He was in the product design stage when he learned about Taiwan's strict rules on bug protein, and decided to stop when he learned that only four species were legal.

"It was inevitably morale crushing," Chen Bing-chen said of his experience.

Chen, however, is still trying to advocate bug protein after founding the Taiwan Edible Insects Industry Association, determined to show how far behind Taiwan is by comparing its laws to those of other countries around the world.

According to Chen, South Korea has put in place well-rounded regulations on eating bugs years ago, and the European Union has designed a complete regulatory framework to manage the farming, production and sales of edible insects.

Taiwan's policies, on the other hand, are shrouded in ambiguity, limiting not only the sale and production but also the transport of bug protein, stalling any attempt to turn edible insects into a business, Chen said.

The approach makes little sense, Chen said, because Taiwan already has a good food processing industry and a very advanced insect-farming sector established to produce agricultural feed.

Echoing Chen's views, Chen Young-fa, the NTU research assistant, said Taiwan's insect processing sector has been mature for many years, catering to the pet and fishing markets.

The bugs used to make feeds or bait in Taiwan are currently raised by experts throughout the nation, with some having fully developed mass-farming techniques for such bugs as the black soldier fly and ptecticus aurifer.

"As long as the feeds have no problems, then the bugs that are farmed for them are not harmful," he said when asked about how safe it is to eat bugs.

Even if people are not ready to ingest insects, there was still an economic opportunity to turn the bugs into protein powder, he said.

More bugs in the system

Another bug in the current system is the TFDA's requirement that experts provide scientific reports to prove that certain bugs are edible, but the costs are prohibitive.

Chen Young-fa said it could cost more than NT$1 million to provide a detailed report on just one species, which "is beyond the annual research funding delegated to researchers."

Chen Bing-chen agreed, saying that sending a bug species for examination in a lab would cost between NT$1.5 million to NT$2 million, which is also a burden on startups.

Ultimately, however, nothing will change as long as Taiwan's rigid regulations remain in place, regulations that even discourage the consumption and production of traditional foods and remedies that have been passed down for generations in Taiwan's Chinese and Indigenous communities, Chen Young-fa said.

He delivered Yang Ping-shih's views on the matter, imploring the TFDA to hold discussions with academic experts and members of the local edible insect industry to come up with well-rounded guidelines to help Taiwan catch up to the rest of the world.

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