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Insects as food or edible insects are insect species used for human consumption. [1] Over 2 billion people are estimated to eat insects on a daily basis. [ 2 ] Globally, more than 2,000 insect species are considered edible, though far fewer are discussed for industrialized mass production and regionally authorized for use in food.
Eighty percent of the world's nations eat insects of 1,000 to 2,000 species. [10] [11] FAO has registered some 1,900 edible insect species and estimates that there were, in 2005, some two billion insect consumers worldwide. FAO suggests eating insects as a possible solution to environmental degradation caused by livestock production. [12]
Assessments of the potential of large-scale entomophagy have led some experts to suggest insects as a potential alternative protein source to conventional livestock, citing possible benefits including greater efficiency, lower resource use, increased food security, and environmental and economic sustainability.
Drinking can be observed in many insect species. [4] Most insects obtain adequate water from their food: When dehydrated from a lack of moist food, however, many species will drink from standing water. [15] Additionally, all terrestrial insects constantly absorb a certain amount of the air's humidity through their cuticles. [15]
Many animals are also edible, including domesticated livestock as well as wild insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. [4] Advocates of the increase in consumption of edible insects cite the environmental benefits of being able to raise more food using less land while producing fewer greenhouse emissions. More than 1,900 insect ...
The free event, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the university's St. Paul Student Center, will feature live insects, insect games, insect-themed gifts, insect crafts and a chance to meet insect experts ...
Insect protein, long hailed as a sustainable food source, hasn’t caught on in the mainstream. But in recent years, interest in insects as ingredients for animal food has been growing. A 2021 ...
The "Spanish fly", Lytta vesicatoria, has been considered to have medicinal, aphrodisiac, and other properties. Human interactions with insects include both a wide variety of uses, whether practical such as for food, textiles, and dyestuffs, or symbolic, as in art, music, and literature, and negative interactions including damage to crops and extensive efforts to control insect pests.