Fazer introduces first insect bread in Finland

Finnish food company Fazer has introduced the first insect bread at its 11 in-store bakeries in the country.

Launched as Fazer Sirkkaleipä (Fazer Cricket Bread), it will be the first hand-baked cricket bread available in Finland.

Fazer Bakery Finland managing director Markus Hellström said:  “We wanted to be in the forefront of the food revolution.

“We want to boost growth in the bread category with handmade artisanal bread, also in the future.

“In the Fazer in-store bakeries, we can easily bake and test different kinds of novelties. The first-in-the-world Fazer Cricket Bread is a great example of this.”

The company noted that it has been engaged in developing insect bread since last summer in order to revamp its bread category by adding new kinds of grain and plant-based products to its consumers.

Fazer Bakery Finland Innovation director Juhani Sibakov said: “The leading star in our bakery products is always excellent taste.

“We made a crunchy dough to enhance taste and increase mouthfeel.

“The result is delicious and nutritious. Cricket bread is a good source of protein. Insects also contain good fatty acids, calcium, iron and vitamin B12.”

Fazer explained that the crickets in cricket bread are dried and ground into powder and added to flour. It claims that each of its cricket bread contains nearly 70 house crickets.

Cricket Bread is said to be one of Fazer Bakery’s future products where flour is replaced with nutritious raw materials.