Worms the Food of the Future
Sustainable and very nutritious food. Making it affordable for anyone.
We are attempting to address the anaemia and malnutrition that affects many people, particularly children in rural Peru. Many people suffer greatly as a result of not eating a balanced diet, which is why we are not focusing solely on Peruvians, but on people in countries where the majority of people are unable to eat a balanced diet. Because this is not just a country's problem, but many people are affected today. We hope this invention or project can help and improve the world we live in. The scale of this problem in my current community is not as severe as it was in Sebastian's previous community, where he was presented with a lot of poverty, for example, in the news, readers are presented with this current problem, talking about how people are suffering and sometimes asking for help. In Peru "the possibility of having anemia in the population aged 6 to 35 months was 40.0%, with a higher incidence in rural areas (48.4%) than in urban areas (36.7%). " We can find this article here. Poverty, the lack of opportunities and not affordable food are the main factors contributing to this problem, causing the lack of Iron and desnutrition in their bodies. The consequences are: Malfunction of the psychomotor and cognitive development in infants, decreases their performance in school, also decreases their physical capacity and their defenses, and increases the risk of mortality.
Our solution is to use worms to create various foods and supplies, as well as to build factories that will make farming them simpler and more affordable. Our concept benefits low-income people and allows for the development of different populations by making this new type of foods and supplies more affordable and providing more protein and nutrients than other types of meat. It also benefits the environment because we will not need as much farmland to care for them, and their food consumption will be lower when compared to caring for a cow or a chicken. We will employ basic farming technology.
Our solution is for anyone looking for a low-cost, high-nutritional-value meal or snack. However, our specific target is low-income people who require these extra proteins in their daily lives. Many of them do not have enough energy to work or go to school; this idea can help them meet their needs while also providing extra protein to their day.
For the time being, my partner and I are the only ones working on this project, but I believe that because of all of our life experiences and how we used to see this problem in our daily lives, in my case, I always saw news about this large problem, about kids getting sick very easily or even dying. This enabled us to seek a solution. However, it would be wonderful to have a mentor or a group that could assist us.
Because we are attempting to solve a large problem, our team is representative of those we serve. And we believe that we should assist anyone who requires this invention in their lives.
Yes, we conducted research on potential users. Most people require more protein in their diet, and it is also more affordable. They are potential users, as well as schools that want to provide a very nutritious meal for their students. We are excited to return to Peru and see if we can volunteer there, to see what new ideas we can implement to improve the situation. For the time being, this is just an idea, but if we can make it a reality, we would like to engage with potential users.
- Improving healthcare access and health outcomes; and reducing and ultimately eliminating health disparities (Health)
- Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea.
Our solution provides a significantly improved approach to the problem. This solution solves 3 major problems in this world:
- Health
- Affordability
- Sustainability
We can reduce the cost of producing worms by producing them in large quantities, making them more affordable for everyone. Worms (Mealworms) have a lot of nutrients in their bodies, and we can use those nutrients to help people who need them. And it is sustainable in the sense that producing mealworms requires less space than raising chickens or other animals. Also they need less food and create less waste.
This idea is going to totally change the market, my plan is to introduce meal worms in energy/protein bars that can make an easy and cheap breakfast to go. And help people get their nutrients from somewhere. From that I am planning on making different types of foods from these worms.
Our impact goals for the coming year are to help fight and eradicate anaemia and to provide an easy-to-go breakfast to people in need who do not have time to prepare it or cannot afford a regular breakfast. We will accomplish this by first experimenting to find the perfect combinations, making the food tasty, and then contacting various institutions (schools, government, gyms) that may require these types of protein bars.
Our technology will be biotechnology, and we will make these types of foods, mostly supplements or breakfast, out of mealworms. And we can use these high protein foods to help people get their nutrients from somewhere while also making it simple to prepare.
- Biotechnology / Bioengineering
- Canada
- Costa Rica
For now our solution is mostly an idea, but in the next year we are looking to serve about 100,000 people, that highly needs this invention in their daily lives. Due to the lack of nutrients in their diet.
I believe that the current barrier for me and my partner is financial in nature. My partner and I just had this idea, and because we live in different countries, it will be difficult to make this invention work. We also don't have any way of purchasing equipment to work on it together. We want to fully develop this product and make a significant impact in the coming year.
We offer customers edibles that are both sustainable and nutritious. We provide these products by including them in their school lunches or selling them in markets. However, anyone can purchase it online. They will want this invention because our main goal is to serve customers who are struggling financially; if they want a nutritious and inexpensive meal, they will choose this option.
In the long run, we intend to contact governments and schools all over the world and present them with this opportunity to feed their students or people in need. We also intend to sell it through various platforms and supermarkets. Making this a global product. Essentially, it is a combination of all of them.