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"Bugs don't belong in bread after all": Erdinger Bäcker on insect meal

2023-02-20T10:13:25.254Z


Despite EU permission: bakers in the Erding district do not process insect meal. Only one colleague in Anzing is a bit more willing to experiment.


Despite EU permission: bakers in the Erding district do not process insect flour.

Only one colleague in Anzing is a bit more willing to experiment.

Erding – For a few weeks now, the EU has allowed crickets and grain mold beetles as food.

These may also end up as flour in baked goods, among other things.

This is now unsettling customers who are wondering whether ground insects will go into the bread at the bakery around the corner from now on.

When asked by our newspaper, bakers in the Erding district made it clear: No, we do not process insects.

Bakery from the district of Erding: "Why should I mix insects in there?"

Christine Gruber from the bakery of the same name in St. Wolfgang seems irritated by the subject of insect flour.

"Again this nonsense," she scolds on the phone.

Concerned customers ask her every day how her bakery deals with the cockroaches and beetles.

"There is absolutely no reason for us to mix in insect meal," is her answer.

“Maybe that will happen in 50 years if global warming turns everything upside down here.

But we currently have top farmers in Bavaria who grow top grain and top mills that produce high-quality flour – why should I mix insects in there?”

On the contrary, ground animals only have disadvantages in several respects, says Gruber.

"Bug powder has no baking properties," she explains.

After all, a dough also needs the adhesive function of grain.

Gruber: "Technically, it wouldn't work at all."

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Erding newsletter.

Bakery in Dorfen: "I can't imagine that there is a paragraph there"

In addition, the flour from crawling animals is umpteen times more expensive than conventional grain flour.

A kilo of cricket flour costs 150 euros, she read, says Gruber.

It is hardly possible to work economically at these purchase prices.

The protein bomb made from ground insects should be sold over the counter as a specialty for many times the conventional baked goods.

"I can't imagine that there is a sale there," says Michael Stelzer from the bakery of the same name in Dorfen.

He, too, rejects insect meal out of hand.

"For God's sake!

Bugs don’t belong in our baked goods after all.”

Uncertainty among customers is palpable: the bakery hangs up an information poster

Crickets and grain mold beetles are not the first insects to be approved as food by the EU.

Mealworm larvae and locusts have been allowed since 2021.

It doesn't matter what kind - even the Reithofen baker Jakob Neumeier is not enthusiastic about the idea.

"In the past, we would have been punished by the food authorities if they had found beetles in the flour," he explains, emphasizing: "I'm a baker." that I can get in Bavaria".

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Open to new things: Ludovic Gerboin with the insect flour donut (left) and Florian Postel with the climate glue donut.

© Johannes Dziemballa

Neumeier is also annoyed by the topic.

He gets to feel the uncertainty of the customers every day.

That's why he has put up a corresponding information poster in his shop.

He also recently posted on Facebook that he only eats grain in his bread.

Sebastian Brugger from Martin's Backstube, with its headquarters in Dorfen and branches throughout the district, also clearly distances himself: "We don't use insect flour and will not do so in the future either." The Erdinger bakers are unanimous: insect flour doesn't go into the bread here.

Protein donuts from Anzing: "Mealworm dough, grated crickets in the chocolate-caramel glaze"

Just across the district border, on the other hand, there is someone who has been experimenting with mealworms for some time and this year has a very special donut in the shop: the Moosinninger baker Ludovic Gerboin in the Postel bakery in Anzing.

Master confectioner and baker Ludovic Gerboin was already keen to experiment in his own business in Moosinning.

He is now also implementing new ideas as an employee at the Postel bakery in Anzing, including the protein donut.

It is in the display with the note "(donuts with insects)".

"The batter is mealworm flour, and there's grated crickets in the chocolate-caramel frosting," explains Gerboin.

The native Frenchman (44) has been experimenting with alternative ingredients for some time, such as algae.

On the insect and donut project, he is collaborating with the University of Engineering in Sion (Switzerland) and the Chair for Synthetic Biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich.

Because questions like this keep coming up, posters and notes in the shop say: “Postel Bakery does not use insects in other baked goods!”

Another creation by Gerboin and his colleague Alfred Dorsch is the “Klimakleber-Krapfen” – crème brûlée on the inside, a hand made of marzipan on top, glued on with caramel.

He is inspired by the group "Last Generation".

Bakery owner Florian Postel (31) once completed his apprenticeship at Gerboin.

After he had to close his bakery, he switched to his former trainee.

"He has a free hand," says the boss.

You can find more current news from the district of Erding at Merkur.de/Erding.

List of rubrics: © Johannes Dziemballa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-02-20

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