Fancy some creepy crawly cuisine?

Livefoods Direct on North Anston Trading Estate supplies live insect feed to the exotic reptile trade and breeds millions of mealworms, crickets, locusts and waxworms every week.

And while viewers nationwide were squirming this week at the sight of celebrities tucking into bizarre bush tucker grub on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, it seems there is a growing market for creepy crawly cuisine.

Livefoods manager Steve Evans said the business had recently seen a rise in customers buying its creepy crawlies for human consumption.

General manager Steve said: “Unlike many suppliers, we breed the livefoods we sell and our stock is used primarily to feed reptiles.

“But there has been a lot of interest in the last 18 months from people wanting to cook them.

“A Chinese restaurant in London regularly buys our locusts and we are getting more enquires about it.

“A lot of people are turning to insects for food — insects are the next thing.”

Steve said he believed the interest may be due to concerns about the rising population, with people looking for alternative food methods as the land available for cattle farming was reducing.

He said: “The amount of land you need to farm cattle and breed them is huge but you don’t need half as much for insects.”

Research has shown there are huge nutritional benefits to eating insects, Steve said, with 100 grammes of crickets containing 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein and 75.8 milligrammes of iron, as well as being rich in calcium.

It is no wonder Livefoods Direct’s insects are so nutritious — all the insects farmed by the 36-strong workforce are fed on bran, cabbage, potato and carrot.

“What they are eating is nothing different to what we are eating,” said Steve

“So all the goodness that goes in them would go into us.”

Insect farming is also environmentally-friendly because the creatures need much less transportation and water than livestock.

But Steve said the firm, which supplies zoos, wildlife parks, universities and pet shops, was stringent in warning customers that its insects are not produced in an environment controlled for food.

“We tell people that if they are going to eat them they must be boiled or deep fried to ensure they’re hygienically safe,” he said.

Steve was also realistic about the growing trend and said it wasn’t something he thought would explode in the next couple of weeks — but who knew what the future held.

The multi-million pound firm, which is the only commercial breeder of live mealworms in the UK, was founded in 1981 by Barry Hammond, who sold the business in 2010 to Steve and managing director Dean Jackson.

The pair agreed insect breeding was a career they never previously envisaged themselves getting into.

Dean was a bricklayer and Steve is a former Welsh miner, but as both of their trades suffered downturns they had to look for new career paths.

Dean said: “I did some building work for the man who used to own this company, and as I started to lose work I decided to come back to North Anston and began work here as an insect breeder in 1997.

“I still learn new things all the time, and you grow to have a bit more of an affection for them and respect that they are a living organism and that everything you do should be in their best interests.”