There’s a new app out that helps consumers find out if the food they buy contains insect-derived ingredients, and the ‘fact checkers’ are not happy.
“The Insect Scanner App is an essential tool for anyone who wants to ensure that their food is free from insects. With the help of the scanner, you can quickly and easily check whether a food item may contain insects without having to open it or conduct extensive research,” the app’s Google Play description reads.
“… The user interface is simple and intuitive, making it easy for anyone to use the app. Whether you’re a vegetarian, a meat-eater, or simply someone who doesn’t want to consume insects, the Insect Scanner App is an indispensable tool while shopping.”
Self-appointed ‘fact checkers’, of course, are not happy, taking to X to make Community Notes confirming that the app is accurate but that the insect ingredients, specifically dyes made from bugs, are actually a good thing.
So far, the app, created by German developer Marcel Bartecki, has garnered over 100,000 downloads since it was launched in September 2023.
The app also allows users to see the scientific names and/or ingredient names that producers use to mask the fact they’re processing insects and adding them into food, including those for house crickets, mealworms, migratory locusts, and grain mold beetles, with an option to not search for individual creepy crawlers if users don’t have a problem with certain ingredients.
This is particularly helpful in revealing the misleading labelling that some companies use to mask the inclusion of cricket protein, which is often labelled less offensively as “Acheta protein”, and other similar products.
