A Japanese company that championed the potential of crickets as a staple food has filed for bankruptcy, unable to overcome consumers’ reservations about insect-based cuisine.
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Gryllus Inc., based in southern Japan’s Tokushima prefecture, declared its insolvency on November 7, burdened by debts totalling some 153 million yen (US$998,000), according to the Yomiuri newspaper.
But the company’s founder, Takahito Watanabe, a professor of developmental biology at Tokushima University, remains steadfast in his belief that insects will eventually play a larger role in human diets.
“We considered insects – and especially crickets – to be a promising new protein resource with the benefit of efficient production,” Watanabe told This Week in Asia.
“The use of crickets as a solution to the protein crisis is attracting attention around the world as a new initiative, and we believed there was sufficient potential to be successful here in Japan as well.”
Gryllus was established in 2019 with the ambitious goal of raising crickets on an industrial scale. The company initially found success in 2022 when Zipair, a budget airline under Japan Airlines, launched two in-flight meals featuring ground-up crickets – a chilli burger and a pasta dish, each priced at 1,500 yen (US$13.80 at the time).