Insects as food source

Buy Edible Insects on the Internet

2010-03-12T09:24:30+01:00

Alot of people wonder of a website where they can safely buy edible insects. I attached a link where you can buy said insects. This is a reputable site; enjoy guys! http://www.thailandunique.com/store/edible-insects-bugs-c-1.html?zenid=b6a841a8b6c81f7e1808053609b94392

Great work!

2010-02-15T20:10:35+01:00

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Insects - the original white meat!

2010-02-15T20:23:15+01:00

From: http://www.windstar.org/knowledge_center_article.cfm?articleID=630 Clean and Green “Cows and pigs are the SUVs of the food world. And bugs—they’re the Priuses, maybe even bicycles.” Diners who want to reduce the size of their environmental footprint might reassess their aversion to bugs, DeFoliart says. Insects typically eaten by people are vegans—at least for much of their life cycles, he says—and generally “clean-living in their choice of food and habitat.” Moreover, edible insects can forage on a far wider range of plants than do traditional meat animals. As such, he says, bugs can tap food sources normally worthless in conventional meat production, such as cacti, bamboo shoots, mesquite and woody scrub brush. What’s more, insects turn more of what they eat into tissue that can be consumed by others. For crickets fed diets comparable in quality to the feed given to conventional Western livestock, diet conversion efficiency is about twice as high as for broiler chicks and pigs, four times higher than sheep and nearly six times higher than steers, DeFoliart reports. Insects’ quick reproduction and high fecundity makes them look even more environmentally attractive. For the crickets, DeFoliart has calculated, this translates into “a true food conversion efficiency close to 20 times better than that of beef.” Gracer likens these differences to gas-guzzling versus gas-sipping vehicles: “Cows and pigs are the SUVs of the food world. And bugs—they’re the Priuses, maybe even bicycles.”

Edible Insects Being 'Grown' In Costa Rica!

2010-02-10T09:38:27+01:00

From: http://www.redorbit.com/news/oddities/1818789/edible_insects_being_grown_in_costa_rica/index.html Insects, a popular delicacy in many parts of the world, are getting a culinary makeover in one Central American city, where scientists are ‘growing’ insects that will be tailored for human consumption. The idea for a common sustainable diet in many African cultures caught the eye of entomologist Manuel Zumbado, who began researching insects as an alternative food source. With the rainforest in mind, Costa Rica has a countless supply of insect species, which may include thousands of species that have not yet been discovered. It is the perfect breeding ground. At first, the notion of tailoring insects for human consumption made people shutter, and they “thought we were a bit crazy, but I think this is an alternative, not only as a survival food, but also as a cultural concept.”

Insects can also be raised to feed to animals

2010-01-14T09:49:14+01:00

From: http://www.new-ag.info/99-3/focuson/focuson4.html Insects are efficient recyclers of organic matter and they can provide a reliable and sustainable source of food for humans and/or animals, provided appropriate breeding methods are developed. Raising insects is relatively easy: they require minimal space and have a better conversion (feed to meat) ratio than any other meat. Most species are also lower in fat and higher in protein (7-21 grams of protein per 100 grams of edible insect) than larger livestock meat (beef, pork and chicken). They are also an important source of vitamins (in particular, riboflavin and thiamine) and minerals (mostly zinc, copper and iron). Traditional consumption involves eating the insects raw, boiled or roasted. However, for those not used to adding insects to their daily menu, they can be powdered and used as flour. Insect larvae can also be raised to feed to animals. Termite larvae are traditionally harvested from existing termatariums and fed to poultry as a protein supplement. However, experiments in Togo and Burkina Faso to provide a source of food (straw/leaves) for termites and site (cattle dung/soil) for a new colony have proved successful. In addition, maggots from Musca domestica and Sarcophaga sp. flies raised on animal droppings in West Africa have been fed to chickens. Chironomid larvae are also raised on chicken manure, harvested, cleaned and sold as feed to fish culture farms in Hong Kong. However, although these larvae can provide a valuable and cheap protein feed for fish and poultry, these insects can be a significant source of micro-organisms and the risks of disease transmission to domestic animals and humans should be considered.

Potential for the rural populations

2009-12-07T09:28:55+01:00

From: http://www.teatronaturale.com/article/1346.html Besides their nutritional value, many experts see in edible insects a big marketing potential for the rural populations that capture, breed, process and sell insects. These prospective could be encouraged by promoting the introduction of modern alimentary technologies for the preservation of insects which are sold and eaten alive, dried, smoked, roasted or treated in other ways.

U.N. Conference Promotes Insect-Eating for Everyone

2009-08-25T20:58:38+02:00

From: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332172,00.html (...) The challenge, experts said, is organizing unregulated, small bug food operations in many countries so they can supplement the food that aid agencies provide. The infrastructure to raise, transport and market bugs is almost nonexistent in most countries.

But how dirty are they?

2009-08-19T11:19:49+02:00

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/magazine/10wwln-essay-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin As it turns out, not very. While insects carry an abundance of microbial flora, they do not regularly harbor human pathogens like salmonella and E. coli. Put another way, insects don’t seem any more prone to disease than cows, pigs, chickens or fish, all of which need to be raised and cooked properly. It can also be argued that these insects boost the nutritional content of what we already eat. Bugs compare favorably to traditional livestock in available protein and fatty acids; for some vitamins and minerals, they better them by a wide margin.

NBC on insects as food

2009-08-17T10:56:56+02:00

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Food Factory Foundation

2009-08-16T19:06:29+02:00