Interview with Mr. Thanaphum Muang-Ieam, co-founder and Ceo of Sahakhun Bug Farm
Let’s know the story behind Sahakhun Bug Farm project
Sahakhun Bug Farm Limited Partnership is located in Thailand, we breed edible crickets “Acheta Domesticus” (House Crickets) for human consumption only.
We not only breed crickets but we’re also manufacturer (frozen&steamed house crickets, proteic powder and snacks) and providers of crickets as raw material.
Our company is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in producing crickets protein powder as well.
Do you need a kind of “specific authorization” to make business with edible insects in Thailand?
We are the first and the only one Thai exporter of edible house crickets products, we’ve been authorized and approved by Thailand Department of Foreign Trade.
The quality of our products has been tested and approved by the Central Laboratory and certificated by Thailand FDA.
What amount of edible insects do you manage per year (in kilograms)?
Minimum 10-12 tons per year.
Is the made-in-Thailand edible insects market growing faster, now that the western world starts to get interested in entomophagy?
We have been eating insects for long long time because of the reasons of habit or inclination or financial constraints. But nowadays there are many young entrepreneurs who have been educated and known the benefits of edible insects. So this makes edible insects businesses grow along with consumer awareness of both old and new generations.
Do you rear edible insects or do you buy them?
We have our own farm. However the demand is growing up fast, we’ve therefore selected the best house cricket farms that closely work with us and strictly follow our guide lines. The sanitary standards in our farms group are daily monitored and recorded, from the egg-period to harvesting, in order to be sure that our crickets are healthy, clean and safe enough for the consumers.
What’s your main market?
Actually our main markets are Thailand , neighbor countries and USA.
Are you planning to sell your products also in Europe?
Absolutely yes!
The EU market was the first where we planned to sell our products. A German importer was the first one who got in touch with us. We actually continue discussing, sharing informations and collaborating with many entopreneurs. Our sample-products have been delivered to them to be applied into thier own products and some of them, as distributors, are using our products to test their market as well. As soon as the EU laws will allow to import the edible insects products from the non-EU countries, we are ready to hit the EU markets.
What’s your best-seller product?
The House Cricket Protein Powder, trademarked as “Nextprotein”
Snacks, trademarked as “Zeed Bugs”.
These are our best seller.
Larb Flavored Crispy Bake
What are you doing –in terms of packaging, processing and communicating- to overcome the “disgust” that western people feels at the idea to eat an insect?
We started to process the whole cricket into powder because it is the easiest way to avoid the “disgust” related with eating crickets. The powder can be easily approached by the consumers.
But the most important thing is education. We, supported by the Institutions, need to educate the people to accept entomophagy, and we, as industry, have to deeply understand –trought researches and surveys for example- the “disgust reactions”. I mean: if we tell the people to eat insects because they can heal the world, this is something far away from their daily life; it’s better to compare edible insects with the other foods they daily consume such as meat, pulses, milk, sausages, proteic bars, etc., starting from that point.
Moreover, I totally disagree with the way some edible insects companies communicate with the consumers. They often show picture of giant grasshopper or edible spider in someone’s mouth. This is totally icky and bizarre for the people who have never eat insects, and if we’ll keep on publishing this kind of images, we’ll keep on emphatizing their negative thought about edible insects consumption.
Will the edible insects market develop soon and fast also in the West?
Yes, I’m pretty sure that the western market will be one of the biggest. It’s because western citizens are becaming more and more aware about responsible consumption, implication of our food production on the enviroment, about the world’s population growth and the need of alternative proteins sources.
Premium grade house cricket powder
What are your new projects for the future?
We will invest more in R&D, especially on two new species of edible insects we want to breed.
The other important goal is cooperation with the Institution to develop technologies to make the working system in our farms easier.
