Why scientists want you to eat insects for protein

Lately, protein seems to be on everyone’s mind. Google Trends data for the past 90 days shows a surge of interest in the nutrient, with people asking some fundamental questions: Is an avocado a protein? Are beans proteins or carbohydrates? And just how much protein is in one egg?

Yet, not a single search on insects. Mary Irigoga, who farms black soldier flies in Rwanda, partly understands why.

“Ah, it triggers disgust in many people. When I started farming black soldier flies for animal feeds, I considered farming crickets for value addition in flours. But many people dissuaded me. They said, ‘ah, insects, that’s disgusting."

Dr Shaphan Chia, a research scientist, entomologist and animal nutritionist, who works under the Insects for food, feed and other uses programme at Icipe finds this aversion interesting but not unexpected.

“We have different categories of people. People who don't eat certain things for diverse reasons, one of them being that they have never been exposed to. Two, some have reasons that they have tasted and they don't like it. And three, some are completely not aware. So, we acknowledge this diversity in opinion of situations around edible insects.”

Edible insects, he explains, are a specific group of insects that are considered as human food or as animal feed. It is widely known that insects are so numerous, but many people know insects for the wrong reasons.

“People know that insects are pests, insects transmit diseases and so on. Insects are a nuisance. But interestingly, the proportion of insects that constitute these manners is actually very limited.”

Dr Chia shares that just about five per cent of insects are responsible for diseases or pests. “Which means the majority of them are actually very useful. When we talk about edible insects, we are looking at identifying those insect species that are found in our environment. Also, in our identification, we are looking at what these insects are, what attributes of them can allow them to be mass produced. Because if they are edible and if we must make a living out of eating or commercialising edible insects, we must be able to mass produce them and make them available.”

Experts say that edible insects could revolutionise food systems in Africa, and be part of what some delegates at the 20th Africa food systems forum (AFSF) describe as a climate-friendly solution that can help to address hunger in Africa. As is, hunger is rising in Africa, with more than 13 million children facing malnutrition.

“So, in our work, we sort these insects from the wild, then develop technologies for developing their diets, also trying to mimic environmental conditions that promote their mass production. We research the properties of these insects, but also rear them and then conduct training where we build the capacity of youth, men and women, including enterprises and persons who are interested in venturing into edible insect farming.

We try to educate the people around us about what insects bring. Since 2012, when we started this work, more and more people are joining in the conversation, which means there is a shift in perception. 

Which are some of these insects?

Among several insect species, at the moment, more than 2,000 of these insects are known to be edible.

“In our work here at Icipe, we currently rear more than 10 different species of edible insects. One of them is the black soldier fly. It's one of those insects that is a very simple tool to mass-produce. This particular insect species can feed on a wide range of organic residual streams, converting the residual nutrients into the body biomass,” explains the entomologist.

“Now, this biomass that is generated is very rich in nutrients, including proteins, amino acids, fats and minerals, which are very key for animal feed formulation. We have the crickets, which we mass-produce and promote for human consumption. Again, crickets are very rich in protein and minerals, but most importantly in micronutrients like iron and zinc, which are actually very key for malnutrition, but also nourishment. What many people don’t know is that they don’t feed on anything disgusting.

We also do grasshoppers, again, for humans. We rear mealworms, and interestingly, we now have different species of mealworms.”

Loaded with nutrients, experts say insects could offer a way to get more protein without asking quite so much of the planet. They argue that beef, for example, carries a considerable environmental burden. Cattle produce methane, and livestock farming is a major driver of tropical deforestation and raising them requires substantial amounts of water. 

“When you look at producing these insects versus producing beef and making them available, you want to first of all look at what it takes to produce them and then what the impact of their production is. Now, for us to produce cattle, you need up to about six times the amount of food you would need to produce a kg of cricket, for example.

For cricket farming, like many other insect farming, you can utilise vertical space. Again, cricket farming requires less amount of water compared to cattle.”

He shares that crickets are known to have up to 70 per cent crude protein content, and it can be more depending on the quality of the food that you feed them.”

Some communities feed on termites; why don’t they get the same attention as crickets?

“That's a very interesting question. Termites, even from where I come from in Cameroon, remain a delicacy. But the reason they haven't received as much attention as crickets is simple. Right now, it is not yet clear how to domesticate these termites. But it has been done for crickets, and many people are mass-producing crickets and making them readily available around the year."

Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.

[email protected]