Company Gets Grant To Develop Food Based On Insects To Fight Malnutrition
All Things Bugs said that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All Things Bugs develops insect-derived technologies for applications in food, farm and pharma.
Dr. Aaron T. Dossey, Founder and Owner of All Things Bugs will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled “Good Bugs: Sustainable Food for Malnutrition in Children”.
Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Dr. Dossey’s project is one of over 100 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 8 grants announced today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Grand Challenges Explorations encourages individuals worldwide to expand the pipeline of ideas where creative, unorthodox thinking is most urgently needed,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery and Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We’re excited to provide additional funding for select grantees so that they can continue to advance their idea towards global impact.”
To receive funding, Dr. Dossey and other Grand Challenges Explorations Round 8 winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas that included agriculture development, immunization and nutrition.
Dr. Dossey’s project will develop a novel food product made from insects to treat malnutrition in children from famine stricken areas of the world. This is the first project of Dr. Dossey’s recently founded company All Things Bugs. Utilizing insects as human food toward a more sustainable and secure human food supply is an emerging field which is growing in popularity. For example, Dr. Dossey attended a meeting in January, 2012 at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome Italy on this subject. Insects possess many attractive attributes such as a higher feed conversion ratio and utilize substantially less water than do other livestock animals such as beef cattle and swine. This also means that they can be farmed in areas of the world where cattle and other livestock cannot; providing even more promise of feeding the world.