Hargol FoodTech

Protein is an essential nutrient for the human body, playing a crucial role in various bodily processes such as cell and tissue building, muscle development, enzyme production, brain development, immune system strengthening, blood substance transportation, hormonal regulation, and more. Inadequate protein consumption can lead to a range of health issues, including endocrine problems, immune system damage, fertility problems, muscle loss, skin elasticity loss, fatigue, hair loss, developmental damage, and even death in severe cases.

The lack of quality and accessible protein, especially animal protein, is a major problem in the developing world, with approximately one billion people experiencing protein deficiency. With the world's population increasing, the global demand for protein is expected to double in the next few decades, while animal protein sources are becoming exhausted and environmentally damaging.

Quality protein is also critical for pets. Unlike in the past, pet owners now understand the importance of incorporating quality protein sources into their pets' diets, leading to a significant increase in "premium" products that include protein. As a result, leading companies in the field are investing heavily in alternative protein sources to incorporate into pet food.

The Problem

Today, the majority of protein is sourced from the meat industry, which is one of the most inefficient and polluting industries in the world. It requires vast amounts of land, water, food, and energy resources, produces significant waste that pollutes both land and water, and is responsible for approximately 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Although the meat industry occupies about 70% of the land areas designated for agriculture, it only serves a portion of the world's population, mainly those in developed countries. In developing countries, where the economic conditions are poor, access to meat consumption is limited.

It is now widely recognized that even a slight reduction in the meat industry could open up opportunities for alternative crops that could provide enough food for a population three to four times larger than the current population, while significantly reducing environmental pollution.

The Solution

Grasshoppers are an incredibly efficient source of protein, boasting numerous health benefits for both humans and pets, with 72% unprocessed protein and all essential amino acids. They also contain essential fatty acids, a rich array of minerals and vitamins, and very low percentages of fat. Compared to cattle, grasshoppers are 100 times more efficient for production, and their cultivation produces 100 times less greenhouse gas emissions, requires minimal amounts of water, feed, and growing space, and results in a 99% reduction of waste.

Until recently, grasshopper supply has been limited to gathering them in the wild, which is only possible in certain locations and for a short season. Hargol FoodTech is the first and leading company to achieve industrialized production capacity for grasshopper-based protein. The company’s innovative methods enable year-round mass breeding of grasshoppers in any location and climate, satisfying the growing demand for healthy and sustainable protein.

Hargol FoodTech aims to supplement, rather than replace, the meat industry in cooperation with leading players in the field. The grasshopper protein is easily incorporated as a complementary additive in food products, upgrading flavors, textures, and colors naturally without processing.

Advantages of adding grasshopper protein as an additive to meat and pet food include:

• Functional benefits: improving the texture, taste, and color of the food.
• Health benefits: grasshoppers are rich in essential nutrients, including amino acids, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, iron, zinc, folic acid, and calcium, which are often lacking in other sources of protein, such as chicken.
• Economic benefits: maximum biomass utilization. In meat and chicken production, around 50% of the biomass is not used as food for humans, but with grasshoppers, 100% of the biomass is used as a final product. . In addition, the good binding of the grasshopper component with water and oil improves the texture of meat products while enabling a significant reduction in the amount of animal-based protein in the product, for example, by adding 4% grasshopper powder, the amount of chicken can be reduced by about 35% while improving the quality of the product.
• Environmental benefits: significant impact on the quality of the environment. The reduction of meat in the product leads to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, land use, energy use for transportation purposes, waste production, and more.

The Technology

Hargol FoodTech is a company that specializes in developing technologies and methods for the industrial cultivation of grasshoppers. Its main developments include:

A. A climate-controlled environment that enables control over all environmental conditions for growing grasshoppers throughout the year in high and uniform quality. This technology is climate resilient and allows for future farms to be established in any geography in the world.

B. Accelerated incubation of grasshopper eggs, reducing the incubation period from 40 weeks in nature to just 2 weeks. This acceleration makes it possible to increase the number of harvests from 1 in nature to 12 per year.

C. A unique cage infrastructure for vertical farming, which allows for growing to a height and increasing production per unit of the area by 10 times. The infrastructure also includes full control of humidity levels, ventilation, and regular removal of feces to maintain sanitation.

The company is also constantly developing and improving its various products. Hargol has already achieved proof of feasibility (POC) for the following technologies:

• Development of feeding capacity with dry feed instead of fresh grass, which is expected to reduce the cost of feeding by 97% and human resources costs by 50%, and allow a transition to full automation of production processes. The company has developed a new genetic line of grasshoppers through crossbreeding and natural selection, which can feed on dry feed. As part of this development, the company reached a level of 90% of the feed portion coming from new formulations that cost about 3% of the cost of traditional feed, such as fresh wheatgrass.

Hargol FoodTech's developments make the production of grasshopper protein highly efficient and quickly replicable in large volumes and diverse climates. As a result, grasshopper protein can be incorporated into a wide variety of food products and industries worldwide.

The benefits of grasshopper protein over other protein sources:

• Grasshoppers contain more protein than other insects. They contain 15% more protein than crickets and 40% more than mealworms and flies, with less than 1/3 of the amount of fat found in other insects. The excess fat in other insects makes it difficult for manufacturers to process the product, mainly by grinding it into powders. This gives Hargol FoodTech a significant advantage in the quality of the raw material and in the variety of applications in which it can be used.
• Grasshopper protein is well absorbed by the body compared to other plant protein sources.
• No additional processing is required. Thanks to the high protein content, no additional processing (production and separation) of the protein is required in grasshoppers, compared to processing that is required in other insects or plant proteins. As a result, the ingredient may be labeled as organic and raw.
• The tastes and smells of grasshoppers are close to the worlds of umami flavors, and they integrate well in a large variety of applications, while other insects suffer from dominant tastes and smells that require masking and are therefore a challenge for the food industry.
• Grasshopper protein is the only one recognized as kosher for Jews and halal for Muslims. Moreover, Hargol is the first and only company to receive kosher certification for its products, which enables their integration as a food additive in a wide variety of products and enables collaboration with food producers that allow only kosher ingredients at their premises.