An environmentally-friendly start-up has launched in Ealing which hopes local residents and businesses will let edible insects "crawl into their menu".

Tiziana Di Costanzo, from Ealing, reportedly uses nothing more than bran and vegetable peels to produce enough insects to feed her entire family of four.

Far from a bushtucker trial, the business analyst suggests insects are delicious and include “three times more Omega 3 than fish and three times more vitamin B13 than meat”.

The Horizon Edible Insects start-up provides creepy crawlies such as mealworms, superworms and crickets to businesses in London for human consumption.

Speaking after launching the company in Ealing, Ms Costanzo told getwestlondon: “Once you get past the yuck effect, you'll find they actually taste really good.

“Let them crawl into your menu once, and you will be hooked.”

The Ealing-based start-up is selling edible insects to the local trade

The company farms insects in plastic trays, which can be stacked up high and need virtually no water, according to the start-up's owner.

Ms Costanzo added: “This is unlike traditional livestock, which requires 30% of the earth's entire land surface for pasture and another 33% to produce food for the animals.

“This uses significant amounts of precious water in the process.”

Crickets are one of many insects the west London business farms

Over the next six months, Horizon Edible Insects are hoping to scale-up their operation to produce 100kg of insects per week, with no waste produced.

The company is “determined to remain loyal to their ethos of sustainability, preservation of the environment and the reduction of waste”, according to a company spokesman.

Fancy tucking into this superworm stirfry?

Horizon Edible Insects is now looking for environmentally-friendly businesses who can donate their best-before dated items and fruit and vegetables they are not able to sell.

They are also looking for “adventurous chefs” who care about sustainability.

For more information about Horizon Edible Insects, click here.

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