Bugs for dinner

Forget meat and three veg - beetle and three veg could be the staple meal of the future, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). While most of us squirm at the thought of ingesting creepy-crawlies, decreasing food security may force us to reconsider what we identify as food.

A new FAO study shows that insects form part of the traditional diet of at least 2 billion people worldwide. Research conducted by the FAO, in partnership with Wageningen University, shows that humans consume more than 1900 different insect species.

These 2 billion people might just be onto something. “Insects are pretty much untapped for their potential for food, and especially for feed,” said Eva Muller, Director of FAO’s Forest Economic Policy and Products Division, who co-authored the report Edible Insects: Future prospects for food and feed security.

Being cold-blooded, insects don’t use energy from food to maintain body temperature, meaning they’re far more efficient than mammals when it comes to producing meat. Cattle, for instance, require 8 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef. Insects, by comparison, use just 2 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of insect meat.

More insects for food could mean more fish for us to eat, Muller says. If insect farming production were to become automated, this would eventually bring costs down to a level where industry would profit from substituting fishmeal, for instance, with insect meal in livestock feed - meaning more fish left over for human consumption.

In addition, insects produce a fraction of emissions such as methane, ammonia, greenhouse gases and manure. In fact, insects can be used to break down waste, assisting in the composting processes that deliver nutrients back to the soil while also diminishing foul odours.

However, legislation in most industrialised nations forbids the feeding of waste materials and slurry or swill to animals, even though this is what insects normally feed on. Further research would be necessary, Muller said, especially into feeding insects from waste streams. Apparently, though, insects are so biologically different from mammals that transmission of insect diseases to humans is highly unlikely.

While regulations in many countries don’t permit insects in food for human consumption, the growing number of novel food stores selling insect-based food in developed countries suggests this is largely tolerated.

As with other types of food, hygienic production, processing and food preparation will be important to avoid the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms that could affect human health. Food safety standards can be expanded to include insects and insect-based products, the report says, and quality control standards along the production chain will be key to creating consumer confidence in feed and food derived from insects.

“The private sector is ready to invest in insect farming. We have huge opportunities before us,” said Paul Vantomme, one of the authors of the report, “but until there is clarity in the legal sphere, no major business is going to take the risk to invest funds when the laws remain unclear or actually hinder development of this new sector.”

The FAO report was launched at the Forests for Food Security and Nutrition conference in Rome. The full report is available to download from www.fao.org.