A bakery in Finland has claimed it will be the first in the world to offer 'insect bread' in grocery stores.

From tomorrow, almost a dozen Fazer Bakery outlets in the country will offer a product called Fazer Cricket Bread.

The product is made with crickets, with the insects dried and ground before being added to flour.

One loaf is said to contain 70 crickets, making up 3% of the total weight of the bread.

According to the bakery, cricket bread is a good source of protein, and also contains fatty acids, calcium, iron and vitamin B12.

The product is initially being made available in 11 stores due to limited cricket supplies, with BBC reporting that the insects are initially being imported from the Netherlands.

However, the company says it hopes to roll out the product to all of its 47 stores in the near future.

Markus Hellström, Managing Director of Fazer Bakery Finland, explained: "We wanted to be in the forefront of food revolution. We want to boost growth in the bread category with hand-made artisanal bread, also in the future.

"Finns are known to be willing to try new things, and the Fazer Cricket Bread is an easy way to get a feel of food of the future."

While insect-based food remains something of a rarity in the western world, around 2 billion people eat insects worldwide.

Experts argue that wider use of insects in food could improve food security as the world's population continues to grow - offering both a nutritious and environmentally-sustainable alternative to traditional meat farming.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation points out that crickets require less food than conventional livestock, and emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia.