This week in the “Vrai du Faux Junior”, the students wonder about the future of our planet and the composition of Kinder chocolates.
“Is it true that we won’t have enough food by 2050? I saw on social media that there were insects in Kinder’s Schoko-Bons, is that true?“The students of the Jules Ferry college, in Sainte-Geneviève des bois, in Essonne and those of the Jacques Prévert school in Meyzieu in the Rhône question us and we answer them.
Yes there will be enough food for everyone in 2050, but at what cost?
Last November, the symbolic bar of eight billion human beings on Earth was exceeded. Hence this question from Ilyès, from the Jules Ferry college, who asks us if it is true “that by 2050 there won’t be enough food to feed the whole population“.
To respond to Ilyès, we contacted Bruno Parmentier, he is an engineer and economist, consultant specializing in issues related to agriculture and food and author in particular of feed humanityas well as Zero hunger, ending world hunger. He explains to Ilyès that today it’s easier to get food compared to 60 years ago, for example. “We are more likely today to have bread in our bakeries than 50 years ago because the productivity of agriculture has increased enormously..” Bruno Parmentier specifies that we “found a way to produce a lot more wheat on the same area and it is possible to continue to do so and to be even more efficient because now we understand nature better.”
So yes, we should continue to have enough food in 2050, but at what cost? Bruno Parmentier also expresses his concern about the problems that future generations will have to face with global warming in particular. He explains that this global warming “will make it much more difficult to produce the goods and services we need to live.“
Insect secretion to coat food
Ouijdane, from the Jacques Prévert school saw on YouTube “a gentleman showing a packet of Schoko-Bons from Kinder and saying that there were insects in them‘ and she wonders if it’s true.
Ouijdane, that is neither totally true nor totally false. This idea comes from social networks, where Internet users highlight the “Shellac“, an ingredient found in these chocolates. Searching for this term on the internet, we see lots of photos of small insects appearing. These are mealybugs, insects from Asia. However, Ouijdane, strictly speaking, they are not found directly in Kinder chocolates. We contacted Marie-Pierre Ellies, professor at Bordeaux Sciences Agro and researcher at INRAE, the agronomic research institute and she explains that “when we say insect, it is not an insect as such, it is in fact a resin which is made by an insect.“It is found in different foods, such as”ice cream or apples, but also in non-food products such as nail polish”, specifies Marie-Pierre Ellies. This shellac resin is taken, transformed and then used to manufacture “an additive, E904 which is commonly used.“
An additive that protects food and is not harmful to health
Ouijdane and Maïssa wonder what it’s for”to put these insects on food and is it dangerous for health“.
Marie-Pierre Ellies replies that the shellac is “a coating agent which will form a slightly shiny film, which will not stick and which will allow the product to resist abrasion while protecting it from drying out and loss of aroma“. Then the INRAE researcher explains that “no, certainly, it is not dangerous to eat it, it is an agent for which there is no contraindication to its consumption, there is no risk and no harmful or side effects to its consumption.“