Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security

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Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security

A. van Huis, J. Van Itterbeeck, H. Klunder, E. Mertens, A. Halloran, G. Muir, and P. Vantomme

FAO Forestry Paper No. 171. 2013.

FAO, Rome. Free download at http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e00.htm

This fascinating publication deals with the topic of edible insects, of which about 1,900 species have at one time or another been eaten by humans. Two billion people presently are estimated to incorporate insects in their diets. The potential of insects to substitute more efficiently for other forms of animal protein is considerable; for example, 8 kg or more of cereals are necessary to produce 1 kg of bovine meat, but only 1-2 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of cricket protein--and insects emit 10 times less methane than cattle. Furthermore, the feed for crickets can be material which is currently waste. It is forecast that the world will host about 9 billion people by 2050, who will require double the present production of food. Since land is scarce, oceans are over-fished and climate change and related water shortages will also affect food production, and since there already are 1 billion chronically hungry people worldwide, the possibility of insects contributing to food security by providing at least part of our future food needs is apparent but neglected.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has collaborated with Wageningen University for some years and in January 2012 the two institutions organized an Expert Consultation on Assessing the Potential of Insects as Food and Feed in Assuring Food Security the findings of which are included in this publication. It is arranged in 15 chapters, which cover discussions of why insects are not eaten in Western countries, the nutritional values of insects to humans and as animal feed, the opportunities for farming insects and their potential for contributing to improved livelihoods. A Webportal of edible insects has been developed by FAO; it incorporates technical information on the uses and potential of edible insects as well as relevant weblinks, videos and media coverage. See www.fao.org/forestry/edibleinsects

The order of insects most commonly eaten by people are the Coleoptera (beetles) which make up around one third of the total, with Lepidopteran caterpillars at 18% and bees, wasps and ants (Hymenoptra) at 14%, followed by the Orthoptera such as the crickets and locusts, Hemiptera (cicadas, leafhoppers etc), termites (Isoptera) and other orders making up the balance. Entomophagy, or the eating of insects, is sometimes a reaction to famine or scarcity of staple foods, but most insects are eaten as part of the daily, or sometimes seasonal, diet. Your reviewer's experience in Uganda introduced him to the eating of Macrotermes sp. where the people would await the flying ants which gathered around the streetlights at the beginning of the rainy season and fell to the ground, where they were eagerly gathered up and eaten. Many other insects are sold in African markets, including the mopane caterpillar, named after its host tree Colophospermum mopane, the collection, drying and sale of which can contribute considerably to the income of women and children in Botswana. But now populations of mopane caterpillar have evidently decreased considerably, under pressure from over-harvesting due to commercialization as well as rural poverty, environmental disasters and food insecurity, and other insect resources are also under threat. If I have a criticism of this book it is that the dry UN-style text fails to convey the enormous enthusiasm with which I have seen people in both towns and the countryside enjoying tasty insect snacks.

Although the literature of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths all cite the eating of insects--the Biblical book of Leviticus describes the locusts which the Children of Israel ate in the desert, for example and there are several references to the eating of locusts in the Koran--yet in more recent times the practice of eating insects became associated with "primitive" diets, and insects themselves were seen only as "pests". Some insect have moved from "pests" to "delicacy", such as the cockchafer bug (Melolontha melolontha) whose grubs feed on plant roots such as potato, but which can be made into a soup considered delicious in France, Germany and some other European countries.

Opportunities are developing for the rearing of insects as human food and animal and fish feed, the latter being of particular importance in view of the growth in fish farming. The efficiencies of production of insects such as crickets are great; 80% of the cricket is edible as against 55% of poultry and pork, and only 40% of beef, and at the same time the emission of green house gases (GHG) of mealworms, crickets and locusts barely register on the histogram while pigs produce up to 1 000 g of GHG equivalent per kg mass gain, and cattle are nearly 3 000 g of GHG equivalent per kg mass gain. A further benefit of eating insects, at least so far as chicken meat production is concerned, is that chicken meat can carry drug-resistant strains of bacteria which can infect humans.

Silkworms and bees have been domesticated, but most other insects used as food are harvested in the wild, mostly forest habitats. Insect farming is a new field; cricket farming for human consumption with Gryllus bimaculatus, the native cricket and Acheta domesticus, the house cricket, has been practiced in Thailand, Laos and Viet Nam for some years while in temperate regions mealworms have been cultivated for fish bait and crickets and grasshoppers for pet food. Insects may even be used as a source of protein for human consumption in space flights; scientists in China, Japan and the USA are researching this food source for space travel and space stations while China is investigating a model bio-regenerative system that uses silkworms.

The processing of insects into granular, paste or other forms is presently possible, as is the extraction of proteins, fats, chitin, minerals and vitamins, but they are presently too costly and need further development.

Your reviewer has seen Edible insects positively mentioned in a number of publications from around the world, and I am indebted to the Italian magazine Panorama of 4th September 2013 which not only reviewed the FAO/Wageningen publication but also drew my attention to a new "pop-up" restaurant devoted to serving dishes based on insects in south London. Eat Ento is working towards getting people to eat insects one delicious bite at a time as their website www.eat-ento.co.uk proclaims. The are also working on creating awareness of the many benefits of edible insects and their passion is infectious, as a recent article in the Times of London has explained with a reporter sampling, albeit slightly reluctantly, several of their dishes, and deciding that she would return--probably. The Panorama article also drew my attention to the Eat-a-bug Cookbook by David George Gordon, which was published in the USA last July and includes recipes to transform worms, scorpions, ants and many other insects into delicious dishes.

The authors conclude with a chapter on The Way Forward, the "roadmap" drawn up by the participants in the meeting on the potential of insects a food and feed of January 2012 which summarizes the main tasks that lie ahead:

* Further document the nutritional values of insects, in order to promote them as a healthy food source;

* Investigate the sustainability and quantify the environmental impacts of harvesting and farming insects, compared with traditional farming and livestock-raising practices;

* Clarify and augment the socio-economic benefits of insect farming and gathering, focusing on improving the food security of society's poorest; and

* Develop a clear and comprehensive legal framework at national and international levels, leading to investment and the development, from household to industrial scales, of production and trade in insect products for human food and animal feed

The case must be made to consumers that eating insects is not only good for one's health but also benefits the planet and insect-rearing, which requires minimal technical knowledge or capital, is a socially-inclusive activity. But the sustainable harvesting of edible insects from the wild will require nature conservation strategies as well as some habitat manipulation to increase abundance and accessibility. Simple rearing procedures for insect-raising need to be developed. In the Western world consumer acceptability will be determined to a great extent by pricing, perceived environmental benefits and the development of tasty protein snacks derived from insects. Preservation and storage will need to be improved and automated mass-rearing systems and procedures to extract proteins for the food and feed industry will have to be developed.

There are many case studies in boxes and examples are quoted throughout the text; the centerfold has a number of attractive photos, but the colourful front cover of Edible insects summarises the book's contents well: it shows photos of African women selling caterpillars in a market; gold-plated crickets on top of luxury Belgian chocolates; black soldier fly in a mass-rearing unit; insects as appetizers; species of Coleoptera used a food colourant; and palm weevil larvae, a staple food.

Jim Ball

President CFA

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Commonwealth Forestry Association

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Gale Document Number: GALE|A365981517