Animal welfare science: an integral piece of sustainable insect agriculture

IF 4.7 3区农林科学 Q1 ENTOMOLOGY

Journal of Insects as Food and Feed Pub Date : 2023-10-12 DOI:10.1163/23524588-20230126

M. Barrett, S.J.J. Adcock

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Abstract

The insects as food and feed (IAFF) industry represents one of the largest undertakings of industrial livestock rearing in human history, with at least a trillion animals reared each year and massive growth potential. As other livestock industries have grown, animal welfare science has become an essential field for maintaining socially responsible, ethical, and sustainable industry practice. Like traditional livestock industries, the IAFF industry could also benefit – ethically, socially, and economically – from a field of welfare science. Here, we present three economic reasons for considering animal welfare in intensive production systems: (1) improving production outcomes, (2) maintaining social license to operate, and (3) differentiating products. In each case, we provide examples from established livestock industries that highlight how the field of animal welfare science can benefit producers. Further, we provide examples of how the IAFF industry would benefit from the support of a dedicated field of welfare science. We end by calling attention to key partnerships between entomologists, welfare scientists, and producers that could advance the common goals of these stakeholder groups, as well as animal welfare in insect agriculture.

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动物福利科学：可持续昆虫农业不可或缺的一部分

昆虫作为食物和饲料（IAFF）产业是人类历史上规模最大的工业化牲畜饲养业之一，每年至少饲养一万亿头牲畜，具有巨大的增长潜力。随着其他畜牧业的发展，动物福利科学已成为维护社会责任、道德和可持续行业实践的重要领域。与传统畜牧业一样，IAFF 行业也可以从福利科学领域获益，包括道德、社会和经济方面。在此，我们提出了在集约化生产系统中考虑动物福利的三个经济原因：（1）改善生产结果，（2）保持社会经营许可，以及（3）产品差异化。在每种情况下，我们都会提供来自成熟畜牧业的实例，突出说明动物福利科学领域如何使生产者受益。此外，我们还举例说明了 IAFF 行业将如何受益于专门的福利科学领域的支持。最后，我们呼吁大家关注昆虫学家、福利科学家和生产者之间的重要合作关系，这些合作关系可促进这些利益相关群体的共同目标以及昆虫农业中的动物福利。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Insects as Food and Feed Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Insect Science

CiteScore

7.00

自引率

17.60%

发文量

133

期刊介绍： The Journal of Insects as Food and Feed covers edible insects from harvesting in the wild through to industrial scale production. It publishes contributions to understanding the ecology and biology of edible insects and the factors that determine their abundance, the importance of food insects in people’s livelihoods, the value of ethno-entomological knowledge, and the role of technology transfer to assist people to utilise traditional knowledge to improve the value of insect foods in their lives. The journal aims to cover the whole chain of insect collecting or rearing to marketing edible insect products, including the development of sustainable technology, such as automation processes at affordable costs, detection, identification and mitigating of microbial contaminants, development of protocols for quality control, processing methodologies and how they affect digestibility and nutritional composition of insects, and the potential of insects to transform low value organic wastes into high protein products. At the end of the edible insect food or feed chain, marketing issues, consumer acceptance, regulation and legislation pose new research challenges. Food safety and legislation are intimately related. Consumer attitude is strongly dependent on the perceived safety. Microbial safety, toxicity due to chemical contaminants, and allergies are important issues in safety of insects as food and feed. Innovative contributions that address the multitude of aspects relevant for the utilisation of insects in increasing food and feed quality, safety and security are welcomed.