ISSN 0258-6150 FAO FORESTRY PAPER 171 Edible insects Future prospects for food and feed security 1.04cm spine for 208pg on 90g eco paper Cover photos, clockwise from top left: Women selling caterpillars in Bangui, Central African Republic (P. Vantomme) Gold-painted crickets on top of Belgian chocolates (P. Vantomme) Black soldier fly in a mass-rearing unit (L. Heaton) Appetizers prepared with insects (T. Calame) Coleoptera species used as a food colorant (A. Halloran) Palm weevil larvae (O. Ndoye) FAO FORESTRY Edible insects: PAPER future prospects for 171 food and feed security by Arnold van Huis Joost Van Itterbeeck Harmke Klunder Esther Mertens Afton Halloran Giulia Muir and Paul Vantomme FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2013 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISBN 978-92-5-107595-1 (print) E-ISBN 978-92-5-107596-8 (PDF) © FAO 2013 FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way. All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence- request or addressed to [email protected]. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/ publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. iii Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. x Authors’ preface ....................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. xii Executive Summary ................................................................................................. xiii 1. Introduction.................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Why eat insects? ............................................................................................... 2 1.2 Why FAO? .......................................................................................................... 2 2. The role of insects.......................................................................................... 5 2.1 Beneficial roles of insects for nature and humans ......................................... 5 2.2 Entomophagy around the world ..................................................................... 9 2.3 Examples of important insect species consumed ......................................... 20 2.4 Important insect products ............................................................................. 29 3. Culture, religion and the history of entomophagy ................................... 35 3.1 Why are insects not eaten in Western countries? ........................................ 35 3.2 Why were insects never domesticated for food? ......................................... 37 3.3 Negative attitudes towards insects ............................................................... 39 3.4 History of entomophagy ................................................................................ 40 4. Edible insects as a natural resource ........................................................... 45 4.1 Edible insect ecology ...................................................................................... 45 4.2 Collecting from the wild: potential threats and solutions ........................... 45 4.3 Conservation and management of edible insect resources ........................ 48 4.4 Semi-cultivation of edible insects .................................................................. 51 4.5 Pest management ........................................................................................... 55 5. Environmental opportunities of insect rearing for food and feed .......... 59 5.1 Feed conversion .............................................................................................. 60 5.2 Organic side streams ...................................................................................... 60 5.3 Greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions ..................................................... 62 5.4 Water use ........................................................................................................ 64 5.5 Life cycle analysis ............................................................................................ 64 5.6 Animal welfare ............................................................................................... 65 5.7 Risk of zoonotic infections ............................................................................. 65 5.8 “One Health” concept .................................................................................... 66 6. Nutritional value of insects for human consumption ................................67 6.1 Nutritional composition ................................................................................. 67 6.2 Beef versus insects: an example of the mealworm ...................................... 74 6.3 Insects as part of diets ................................................................................... 76 6.4 Sustainable diets ............................................................................................. 79 6.5 Edible insects in emergency relief programmes ........................................... 79 iv 7. Insects as animal feed .................................................................................. 89 7.1 Overview ......................................................................................................... 89 7.2 Poultry and fish fed with insects ................................................................... 90 7.3 Key insect species used as feed ..................................................................... 93 8. Farming insects ............................................................................................ 99 8.1 Definitions and concepts ............................................................................... 99 8.2 Insect farming ................................................................................................. 99 8.3 Insect farming for human consumption ..................................................... 101 8.4 Insect farming for feed ................................................................................ 103 8.5 Recommendations on insect farming ......................................................... 103 9. Processing edible insects for food and feed .............................................107 9.1 Different types of consumable products .................................................... 107 9.2 Industrial scale processing.............................................................................110 10. Food safety and preservation ..................................................................117 10.1 Preservation and storage ..............................................................................117 10.2 Insect features, food safety and antimicrobial compounds .......................119 10.3 Allergies ......................................................................................................... 123 11. Edible insects as an engine for improving livelihoods ...........................125 11.1 Insects as a part of the minilivestock sector ............................................... 125 11.2 Improving local diets .................................................................................... 126 11.3 Access, tenure and rights to natural capital ............................................... 127 11.4 Inclusion of women ...................................................................................... 128 12. Economics: cash income, enterprise development, markets and trade ....................................................................................................131 12.1 Cash income ...................................................................................................131 12.2 Enterprise development ............................................................................... 133 12.3 Developing markets for insect products ..................................................... 135 12.4 Market strategies .........................................................................................