Yet another BIG week for Devon-based Mr Bug saw the welcome arrival of a prestigious Blue Patch rosette which arrived in the post at precisely the same moment as their Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Accreditation certificate.
Today, both nationally-prized accolades sit proudly alongside the gleaming gold Nourish award (unrivalled nutritional integrity) that Conal Cunningham’s bustling bug-orientated business won the previous year.
According to Mr Bug co-founder, Conal Cunningham, “As owners of a plucky, rural business, Paul & I have always felt a special affinity to the surrounding countryside and waters that for too long now have been an unwitting victim of humankind’s throwaway thinking.”
“What began as an inquisitive vertical farming project to showcase the incredible nutritional prowess of the humble mealworm has quickly mushroomed into something altogether bigger, including an earnest commitment to the circular economy (local sourcing of skills & materials wherever feasible), a proactive push to curb CO2 emissions (transportation & production) and a non-negotiable pledge to only working with real ingredients from nature’s larder and truly recyclable packaging.”
With a recent Mintel report suggesting that the current environmental cost of total global pet food production now equates to the total environmental impact of a land mass the size of France; it’s imperative to ensure that ever larger funds & grants are made available to ambitious insect farms that use between 60-90% less land per kg protein, 50-80% less feed per kg protein and significantly lower quantities of GHGEs 9(1,000-2700 less GHGEs – greenhouse gases than traditional farms.
“Today our eyes are wide open; not only to the uncomfortable corner mankind has unwittingly painted itself into but the many inspirational opportunities being provided by new technology and thinking to turn the clock backwards. Indeed, it’s the progressive thinking being demonstrated by businesses like Mr Bug that has resulted in the UK Government recently providing our ambitious mealworm business with a generous Innovate application and a far-reaching farm transformation grant.”
For more information visit www.mrbug.co.uk
