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Waiter. Is that an insect in my soup?

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A story on the BBC website yesterday reported that Israeli citizens have been taking revenge on locusts swarming over their farmland – by eating them.

According to the report, locusts taste like something between ‘chicken schnitzel, toasted sunflower seeds and prawns’. Those that have feasted on sesame plants are said to be ‘particularly delicious’.

Surely eating these ‘flying prawns’ (as they have been described in Australia) doesn’t require a massive leap of the imagination. Although taboos about eating insects persist in the West, there is a history of insect consumption in China going back to the Tang dynasty and a generally higher level of acceptability in Asia and Africa.

According to this month’s issue of Food Science & Technology, the protein values of edible insects are comparable to most meat products. They are also said to have nutritional values akin to fish lipids in terms of fatty acid composition.

While there are potential challenges in processing insects for feed production, for example around oxidisation, these could be managed. Insect production also requires far less land and cuts methane emissions, which is a significant environmental problem in the rearing of animals for food. In theory, then, insects could provide a valuable additional source of food and feed.

My first question would be: Would it be safe to use insects as feed? I think the answer is, in principle yes. Freezing slows down and stop the metabolism of harvested insects, heating (blanching and roasting) can kill enterobacteriaceae, and drying ensures stability of the finished product. There could be a concern about what pesticides insects might have been exposed to and what unsavoury substances they might have fed on. Breeding insects for feed (and testing them) would, however, eliminate many worries about what they might contain in addition to nutrients.

My second question is: Are we yet comfortable with the idea of insects as a food source? If we can overcome the ‘yuk factor’, that would take us back to the question: ‘Waiter, is that an insect in my soup?’ If the answer is yes, would you be happy paying an addition to your bill, or would you demand a reduction?

I would welcome your views.


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