One of Finland's largest food companies is selling what it claims to be a first: insect bread.

Markus Hellstrom, head of the Fazer group's bakery division, said on Thursday that one loaf contains about 70 dried house crickets, ground into powder and added to the flour. The farm-raised crickets represent three per cent of the bread's weight, Hellstrom said.

"Finns are known to be willing to try new things," he said, and according to a survey commissioned by Fazer "good taste, freshness" were among the main criteria for bread.

According to recent surveys of the Nordic countries, "Finns have the most positive attitudes toward insects," said Juhani Sibakov, head of Fazer Bakery Finland's innovation department.

"We made crunchy dough to enhance taste," he said. The result was "delicious and nutritious," he said, adding that the Fazer Sirkkaleipa (Finnish for Fazer Cricket Bread) "is a good source of protein and insects also contain good fatty acids, calcium, iron and vitamin B12".

"Mankind needs new and sustainable sources of nutrition," Sibakov said in a statement. Hellstrom noted that Finnish legislation was changed on November 1 to allow the sale of insects as food.