You may not be aware, but the world is in the midst of a very serious crisis that has been occurring for the last four to five decades, and is set to dramatically worsen over the next twenty years.
The global food crisis is a very real and very concerning international state of affairs that is currently leaving billions of people worldwide at risk of life-threatening hunger.
By the year 2050, the world population is set to increase by between 25% and 30%, adding a minimum of 2.4 billion more hungry people to an already food-poor planet.
According to the World Hunger Education Service, More than 795 million people on the planet are currently suffering from chronic undernourishment, or roughly one in nine people.
With the world population expanding at an exponential rate, especially in developing and extremely impoverished regions, a new solution for sustainable agriculture and food supply is needed to prevent wide-scale starvation and undernourishment.
One of the biggest hindrances to the development of the sustainable food industry is the reliance on meat, which is 25 times less cost efficient than grain to produce.
Of the projected 2.4 billion person increase in international population levels, more than 1.3 billion are expected to be, paradoxically, born in the poorest and most impoverished regions of Africa, a region in which one out of four countries reports more than a 40% stunting rate in total food output.
It’s clear that without rapid and extremely innovative reform, the global per capita food supply with fail to meet demands, resulting in widespread disaster.
While cereal crops are far more energy efficient than meat from an agricultural perspective, they fail to provide the body with one of the most critical macronutrients- protein.
Cereal crops consists mainly of carbohydrates and fiber and contain relatively no protein at all, an element that the average healthy adult requires 60 grams of every day.
While these statistics may be troubling, there are a number of enterprises that are actively seeking an effective and feasible solution to the problem.
One of the most promising answers to the global food supply shortage issue has come from an Israeli startup called Flying SpArk, who have developed an innovative and highly cost-effective method of generating dietary protein with a significantly lower net energy cost.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the Flying SpArk solution and find out what it is and how it works to present a clear picture of how this startup aims to fill 9 billion bowls by 2040.
What is Flying SpArk?
Flying Spark is a groundbreaking new Israeli food tech startup that is providing a revolutionary perspective on the best method to create dietary protein.
Instead of seeking plant-based or animal-based protein sources, Flying Spark is turning to an unexpected source of protein- insects, or, more specifically, the common fruit fly.
Flying Spark, undeterred by the fact that most would turn their nose up at a dish made from flying insects, has developed a new, multi-format protein solution that is incredibly inexpensive to manufacture and extremely rich in protein.
Describing their product as safe, sustainable, nutritious, and economic, The Flying Spark offer a range of fruit fly protein products that come in whole powder, reduced fat powder, and oil form.
The Flying SpArk Advantage
The Flying Spark solution offers a number of advantages that make it one of the most feasible solutions for ending the international food crisis.
Created from fruit flies that are fed on a completely fruit-based diet, the fruit flies that are used to make the Flying Spark solution are completely free from hormones and pesticides, and, importantly, don’t require antibiotics to keep them healthy.
The meat industry currently uses massive amounts of antibiotics to keep sickly meat animals healthy enough to meet regulatory standards, a practice that, through natural selection, is creating “superbugs”, or viruses, bacteria, and pathogens that a can’t be treated with any antibiotic in existence.
These superbugs already claim more than 20,000 lives every year in the US alone, and with no current way to combat them, are rapidly becoming one of the biggest threats to human health in existence.
The Flying Spark solution negates the antibiotic issue caused by the meat industry entirely, and has the added advantage of being completely free of greenhouse gas pollution.
Using insect protein as a replacement for animal meat protein also offers a significant increase in water use efficiency- just as there is a global food crisis, there is also a global water crisis.
By 2025, more than 1.8 billion people will be living in regions without access to drinkable, clean water.
In order to create just one pound of water, 25,000 gallons of drinkable fresh water must be used.
The Flying Spark solution, on the other hand, uses virtually no water, and takes up a minimal amount of land, making it the most efficient alternative to any other protein source in existence.
The Flying Spark solution isn’t only water efficient and free from dangerous additives, it’s also extremely nutritious- the nutritional profile of fruit flies offers a massive protein to carbohydrate ratio, as well as offering a complex amino acid profile that provides the body with many of the critical nutritive elements it needs to remain healthy.
Additionally, the end product created by Flying Spark is completely cholesterol and gluten free, and contains high levels of nourishing fatty acids that deliver a wide range of health benefits.
With a short life span of only one week, the fruit fly is the most efficient method of converting carbohydrate energy sources to protein structures in the natural world, increasing in body mass over 1500% in just seven days. Self cleaning and self harvesting, fruit flies appear to be the future of global protein supply.
Flying SpArk Summary
While the technology behind the Flying SpArk solution is still in the early stages, and still require agricultural efforts to be shifted into fruit production, it is one of the most promising answers to the problem of global food supply.
If the Israeli startup founders of this company have their way, you could find yourself eating insect powder for lunch within just two decades.
