Vancouver StartUp Coast Protein aims to expand their line of cricket protein products and normalize the consumption of insects.

VANCOUVER, Feb. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Coast Protein, Western Canada's first cricket protein company, today announced the launch of their crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter. The company is setting out to raise $20,000 from February 27 to March 31 in hopes to streamline production, improve packaging, and add cricket protein powders to their product offering.

The Vancouver start-up currently sells small-batch cricket protein bars to various retailers across the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Available in two delicious flavours, Coast Protein locally produces roughly 1,000 cricket protein bars by hand every week, and they're ready to take their production to the next level.

"Our hope for this campaign is not only to increase our production capacity and expand our product line, but to educate our community about the health benefits of this sustainable protein source," said Chris Baird, Marketing Director of Coast Protein. "We've found that crickets contain more calcium than milk, and more iron than spinach, making them the ideal candidate for protein powder in shakes and smoothies. We've seen other healthy food trends like juicing, Kombucha, and farm-to-table takeoff in Canada and we believe that cricket protein is next."

Being that crickets are a complete animal protein, they provide a nutritional alternative to heavily processed proteins that contain ingredients. They have a full amino acid profile, and are environmentally friendly. Compared to cows, crickets require 2,000 times less water, produce 100 times less methane gas, and require a fraction of the land for the same pound of protein. 

"We hope that the sustainability factor of cricket protein will be a big driver of adoption," said Chris Baird. "Canadians are becoming more conscious of the impact that their food has on the environment, and crickets require a fraction of the resources compared to other protein sources."

Coast Protein's cricket protein bars and protein powders are now available in a variety of flavours on Kickstarter until March 31st, and at select retailers across the Lower Mainland. If the company reaches their goal, they'll be partnering with a tree planting company in British Columbia to personally plant 10,000 trees this coming June.

About Coast Protein

Coast Protein is Western Canada's first cricket protein company. It was founded in 2015 to create sustainable protein bars and powders made with a highly nutritious and currently overlooked source of protein: crickets. Their mission is to normalize the consumption of insects, a great new alternative protein source for those who value nutrition and their impact on the environment.

SOURCE Coast Protein

To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2017/27/c5309.html