Aspire Food Group is making pet food more sustainable with insect protein

Insects have always been part of the diet of cats and dogs – but they haven’t always been a part of the pet foods that we feed them. That’s changing, and a company with McGill roots is helping drive a transformation in the industry. Aspire Food Group cultivates crickets to produce high-quality protein with a low environmental footprint. Their plant in London, Ontario, will be the world’s largest, fully automated cricket production and processing facility, and Aspire sees plenty of potential for growth. The company was founded in 2013 by McGill MBA students Mohammed Ashour (MSc’11, MBA’19), Shobhita Soor (Bsc’10, MBA’15, BCL/LLB’15), Gabriel Mott (MBA’14), Jesse Pearlstein (MBA’14), and Zev Thompson (MBA’14).