Edible insects – history, characteristics, benefits, risks and future prospects for use

Eva Ivanišová; Michal Mihaľ; Adriana Kolesárová

doi:10.52756/ijerr.2022.v27.008

Authors

Eva Ivanišová Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovak Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5193-2957
Michal Mihaľ Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovak Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8039-6310
Adriana Kolesárová Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovak Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1272-9099

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52756/ijerr.2022.v27.008

Keywords:

Entomophagy, nutritional benefits, perspective, risks, technology

Abstract

The growing global food crisis and the changing climatic and agro-ecological conditions on the planet are predominant, serious, and growing issues that require Global attention. Insecurity caused by the lack of food can have devastating effects on health, with malnutrition being considered a major cause of infant mortality. In addition, malnutrition at an early age has been linked to problems later, including hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Insecurity caused by the lack of food contributes to lowering immune function and altering the intestinal microbiome. By 2030, the annual economic cost of mortality and noncommunicable illnesses is anticipated to exceed $1.3 trillion. Edible insects are employed in gastronomy and the food industry in many Asian, Oceanian, African, and Latin American countries. Due to cultural preconceptions and disinformation regarding its detrimental characteristics and effects on the human body, Western societies perceive it as animal feed rather than human food. Academic, industrial, and government forces are constantly trying to reduce negative insect perceptions by raising public awareness of the need to find alternative food sources, developing new insect processing methods, and highlighting the health benefits of insect consumption. Insect consumption, also known as entomophagy, has been reported for a long time. It is estimated that roughly 2 billion individuals ingest insects regularly worldwide. There are about 2,000 edible bug species in the literature, the majority of which come from tropical nations. The most regularly ingested insects are beetles, bees, wasps, ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas, termites, dragonflies, and flies. This review covers current insect trends as a prospective food source (alternative food source), describes the benefits and risks associated with their ingestion, and highlights the numerous areas where they could be used.

References

Anankware, J.P., Roberts, B.J., Cheseto, X., Osuga, I., Savolainen, V., & Collins, C.M. (2021). The nutri-tional profiles of five important edible insect species from west Africa—an analytical and literature synthesis. Frontiers in Nutrition. 8: 1.19.

Barragán-Fonseca, K.I., Barragán-Fonseca, K.B., Verschoor, G., Avan Loon, J.J., & Dicke, D. (2020). Insects for peace. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 40: 85-93.

De Foliart, G.R. (1999). Insects as food: Why the western attitude is important. Annual Review of Entomology. 44: 21-50.

FAO. (2018). The future of food and agriculture. Alterna-tive pathways to 2050. Summary version. Pp. 60. ISBN 978-92-5-130989-6.

FAO. (2021). Looking at edible insects from a food safety perspective. Pp.108. ISBN 978-92-5-134196-4.

Finke, M. D. (2005). Nutrient composition of bee brood and its potential as human food. Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 44: 57–270.

Guiné, R.P.F., Correia, P., Coelho, C., & Costa, C.A. (2021). The role of edible insects to mitigate challenges for sus-tainability. Open Agriculture. 6: 1-10.

Halloran, A., Flore, R., Vantomme, P., & Roos, N. (2018). Edible insects in sustainable food systems. Springer: Switzerland. Pp. 468. ISBN 978-3-319-74010-2.

Halloran, A., Roos, N., Eilenberg, J., Cerutti, A., & Bruun, S. (2016). Life cycle assessment of edible insects for food protein: a review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 36: 1-8.

Huis, A. (2016). Edible insects are the future? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. Pp. 1-60.

Kelemu, S., Niassy, S., Torto, B., Fiaboe, K., Affognon, H., Tonnang, H., Maniania, N.K., & Ekesi, S. (2015). African edible insects for food and feed: Inventory, di-versity, commonalities and contribution to food security. Journal of Insect as Food and Feed. 1: 103-119.

Kim, T.K., Yoong, H.I., Kim, Y.B., Kim, H.W., & Choi, Y.S. (2019). Edible insects as a protein source: A review of public perception, processing technology, and re-search trends. Food Science of Animal Resources. 39: 521-540.

Mlcek, J., Rop, O., Borkovcova, M., &Bednarova, M. (2014). A comprehensive look at the possibilities of edible insects as food in Europe–a review. Polish Journal of Food and Nutrition Science. 64: 147-157.

MPRV, S. R. (2021). Available at: URL: https://www.mpsr.sk/jedly-hmyz-ako-nova-potravina/526-111-526-16281/

Murefu, T.R, Macheka, L., Musundire, R., & Manditsera, F.A. (2019). Safety of wild harvested and reared edible insects: A review. Food Control. 101: 209-224.

Muzzarelli, R.A.A, Boudrant, J., Meyer, D., Manno, N., De-Marchis, M., & Paoletti, M.G. (2012). Current views on fungal chitin/ chitosan, human chitinases, food preservation, glucans, pectins and inulin: A tribute to Henri Braconnot, precursor of the carbohydrate polymers science, on the chitin bicentennial. Carbohy-drate Polymers. 87: 995-1012.

Nádaská, K. (2016). Rok v slovenskej ľudovej kuchyni. Fortuna Libri: Bratoislava. Pp. 23. ISBN 978-8-081-42620-9.

Pal, P., & Roy, S. (2014). Edible insects: Future of human food. A review. International Letters of Natural Science. 6: 1-11.

Paoletti, M. G., Norberto, L., Damini, N., & Musumeci, S. (2007). Human gastric juice contains chitinase that can degrade chitin. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. 51: 244–251.

Peigler, R.S. (1993). Wild silks of the world. American Ento-mology. 39: 151-162.

Ramos-Elorduy, J. (2008). Energy supplied by edible insects from Mexico and their nutritional and ecological impor-tance. Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 47: 280–297.

Rumpold, B.A., & Schluter, O.K. (2013). Nutritional com-position and safety aspects of edible insects. Molecu-lar Nutrition and Food Research. 57: 802- 823.

Schlűter, O., Rumpold, B., Holzhauser, T., Roth, A., Vogel, R.F., Quasigroch, W., Vogel, S., Heinz, V., Jager, H., Bandick, N., Kulling, A., Knorr, D., Steinberg, P., &Engel, K.H. (2017). Safety aspects of the produc-tion of foods and food ingredients from insects. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. 61: 1-20.

Sungpuag, P., & Puwastien, P. (1983). Nutritive value of unconventional protein source: Insect. Pochanagan Sarn. 1: 5-12.

Svanberg, I., & Berggren, A. (2021). Insects as past and fu-ture food in entomophobic Europe. In Food, Culture and Society. 24: 624-638.

Tang, Ch., Yang, D., Liao, H., Sun, H., Liu, Ch., Wei, L., & Li, F. (2019). Edible insects as a food source: A review. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition. 1: 1-8.

Ulicsni, V., Svanberg, I., & Molnár, Z. (2016). Folk knowledge of invertebrates in Central Europe – Folk taxonomy, nomenclature, medicinal and other uses, folklore, and nature conservation. Journal of Ethnobi-ology and Ethnomedicine. 12: 47.

Zagrobelny, M., Dreon, A.L., Gomiero, T., Marcazzan, G.L., Glaring, M.A., Møller, B.L., & Paoletti, M.G. (2009). Toxic moths: Source of a truly safe delicacy. Journal of Ethnobiology. 29: 64–76.

Zielińska, E.M Karaś, M., Jakubczyk, A., Zieliński, D., & Baraniak, B. (2018). Edible insects as source of pro-teins. In: Mérillon, J.M., Ramawat, K. (eds.) Bioac-tive Molecules in Food. Reference series in phyto-chemistry. Springer Cham., USA. Pp. 465. ISBN 978-3-319-78030-6.