Wider acceptance for insect origin proteins: certified and sustainable

Entotrust, the innovative food certification, is celebrating its third year of activity, defining the global assessment for safety and sustainability in the growing edible insect proteins trade. The Entotrust seal on product packaging is achieved by food manufacturers or insect farmers that comply with the program standards.

Certifications are consumer driven. The demand for more healthy products that are safe and authentic combined with higher farming and manufacturing sustainability expectations, gave stimulus to certifications in the past decade. In fact, sustainability-marketed products grew 5.6 times faster than conventionally marketed products, and 3.3 times faster than the CPG market in total. Studies confirm that certification labels provide:

Trust: Tangible proof of marketing statements on quality and good practices;
Visibility: Higher attention and attraction on shelf or online;
Purchase: Definitely supporting initial trial and tasting;
Value: Willingness to pay a premium price.

At the same time, retail and food organizations started to cope with a highly complex business environment, international competition, with quality and food safety at the center. The globalization of food raised the need for common approaches and standards in the production of quality and safe products to be marketed successfully.

This need becomes more evident for alternative proteins based on insects. There is a clear need for transparency and trust for innovative food producers and farmers. Entotrust has become in three years the reference for insect food quality, a guarantee for conscious consumers and retailers listing sustainable foods, as well as restaurant professionals introducing them in their menus. The team was engaged to assess producers as well as farmers from France, Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Italy, South Africa, UK, Ecuador and Madagascar... from protein powders to functional beverages, to snacks, pasta, crackers and biscuits.

Consumer research during 2021 shows that the Entotrust logo visible on packaging increases perceived food safety by 40% for the same product without a certification label. Additionally, it performs better than widely known food certifications (e.g. Organic, Bio) in direct comparison on the same product, for consumer purchase intention and visual appeal.

Entotrust is the icon for insect food quality. The program envisions a world where edible insects will supply healthy food, making high value proteins accessible to a wider population with important environmental and social benefits.

Entotrust is the global voluntary insect-food certification, an independent and science-based organization, which allows producers to assess their food safety and sustainability. The Entotrust logo is a registered trademark, which can only be used by positively certified producers or farmers. Entotrust's mission is to secure the health of consumers by recognizing quality insect products and to nudge people's decisions when buying new alternative foods, and working with the stakeholders' network to improve scientific knowledge. The company's head office is in Milan, Italy, and it has representatives in the European Union, the USA and Mexico.