Entomo Farms
Bringing cricket-based food products and sustainable sources of protein to a nutrition-starved world.
Located on Industrial Drive in Norwood, Entomo Farms produces and ships highly nutritional cricket-based products to food manufacturers across Canada and the United States as well as overseas to Australia and Japan.
Co-founded by the Goldin brothers – Darren, Jarrod and Ryan – the company began production in 2014 and now harvests up to 6,000 pounds of crickets per week from three huge barns that are then roasted and grounded into a powder – Entomo’s core product – or sold whole as a flavoured snack food.
A new brand, Actually Foods, is producing flavoured cheese puff-type snacks with up to 10 grams of protein per serving, now carried by Loblaws and other retailers. According to Entomo Farms’ CEO Kelly Hagen, the cricket-based food industry received a huge boost in 2013 when the UN Food and Agricultural Organization reported that new sustainable sources of protein were needed to satisfy a rapidly growing world population’s need for protein. “Crickets are more sustainable to raise than other livestock, but they also contain a prebiotic fibre and high levels of vitamin B12,” says Hagen. “This combination of sustainability, health benefit and great taste is enough to get a lot of people over their initial hesitation…to try it.”
The future of the industry, and of Entomo Farms in particular, is very bright, says Hagen. “There were a lot of fits and starts at first, but we’re now looking at how we can quadruple our capacity and produce much more. Our founders often talk about wanting to leave a better place for their children, and with healthy food for a healthy planet, we tick both those boxes and feel good about it every day.” For more information about
Entomo Farms, visit entomofarms.com.
