Insects as sustainable feed and food

Abstract

Submitted 2020-07-06 | Accepted 2020-07-31 | Available 2020-12-01

https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020.23.mi-fpap.214-216

Insects are one of the proposed responses to the increasing request of alternative feed/food productions with high production yield and low environmental impact. Insect production offers a new sustainable alternative for unexploited or underexploited resources, in accordance with the waste hierarchy principles. Insects constitute a reliable alternative or addition to feed due to their nutritional characteristics (e.g. protein content, amino acid profile and/or digestibility levels). Edible insects may be part of human foods mostly as ingredients in already well-known products or integration of insect-based foods into existing diets. In the near future research is needed to increase knowledges and support the insect industry to a considerably scale up to reach competitive price and high-quality products.

Keywords: entomophagy, novel food, environment, protein, fat

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