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UB students offer an alternative burger, the insect burger

Posted at 6:19 PM, Aug 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-10 18:19:41-04

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Three University of Buffalo students debuted their award winning meal worm burger to the public for the first time August 10. Their goal was to show residents that insects can be tasty and help the planet too.

"There are a lot of benefits to meal worms. They're jam packed with all the amino acids and vitamins that we need. They also have a comparable protein content to beef," co owner of Protein Responsibly Abdulrahman Hassaballah said. "Plus they have virtually no fat."

The meal worm burger solves three of the United Nation's sustainable development goals — responsible consumption and production, world hunger and climate change. For ever burger, seven pounds of green house gasses are produced. For meal worm burgers, that number is down to .01 pounds.

"So we're saving water, we're saving energy, we're saving space," Hassaballah said.

The Protein Responsibly team plans on extending their products to desserts one day, but for now, they are focused on turning insect based foods mainstream. To learn more about their mission or food, head to their website.