Insects on the Menu: Overcoming Neophobia for a Protein Revolution

Tiffany Lau outlines how the growing global population, food insecurity, and environmental sustainability concerns have driven the demand for alternative protein sources like edible insects, which offer nutritional benefits and a lower environmental footprint, but face challenges such as consumer neophobia, regulatory hurdles, and safety concerns in Western countries.

The increased concern over the surge in global population, food insecurity and environmental sustainability has driven a demand towards the exploration of alternative sources of protein, to replace conventional meat. In addition, climate change-induced challenges such as invasive pests, inconsistent rainfall, and soil erosion have placed further strain on the current agriculture productivity, which can potentially affect the global food supply chain. This has led to an increased attention to edible insects, due to its potential to be a nutritious and environmentally friendly alternative source of protein. For centuries, the consumption of edible insects, known as entomophagy, has been practised around the world. Insects have been utilised not only as food but also as feed and medicine, with over 2,000 species being consumed by humans globally. For example, one of the most popular street foods that can be found in Thailand, Hon Mhai, is a dish served with seasoned deep-fried silkworms. While in Mexico, Escamoles is a dish made by the larvae of 2 species of ant, Liometopum occidentale var. luctuosum and L. apiculatum, and is part of the ancient Mexican diet since the Aztecs.

However, the practice of consuming insects in Western countries is uncommon, not only due to a lack of exposure but also largely because of legislation, which does not permit all insects for human consumption. Edible insects and any insect-based products need to be approved under the Novel Food Regulation prior to consumption. Novel foods are defined as foods that have no significant history of consumption within the UK or EU prior to 15^th of May 1997. The process of novel food authorisation takes into consideration various aspects including toxicological, nutritional, pharmacokinetics, allergenicity, and can take up to 17 months or more for approval. According to the UK Food Standard Agency (FSA)⁽¹⁾, edible insects submitted to the Novel Food Application (on or before 31^st December 2023) and allowed to be marketed include yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), house cricket (Acheta dometicus), banded cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus) and black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens).

Roughly 2 billion people around the world eat insects. People in Asian or African countries tend to consume edible insects in their original form, either as part of the main meal or snacks. Although the consumption of edible insects has been practised for centuries, there is still reluctance among people in Western countries. Today, a large proportion of Westerners are still disgusted by the idea of edible insects. The reluctance of consumers to accept edible insects can be attributed to factors that include psychological, sensory and cultural⁽²⁾. The repulsion of edible insects can be due to lack of exposure, interest, and information. Insects are often associated with negative impressions including ‘unhygienic’, ‘unacceptable’, ‘unpleasant’ and ‘disease bearing’.

The second macronutrient found in edible insects after protein is fat. Previous studies have shown that the ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in edible insects is between 0.43 to 0.79⁽⁶⁾, suggesting that edible insects contain an abundance of unsaturated fatty acids that have proven to be linked to positive health benefits such as enhancing cognitive function⁽⁷⁾ and reducing the risk of depression⁽⁸⁾. Research also found that the omega-3 fatty acid in mealworms is comparable to that found in fish⁽⁹⁾.

Edible insects are also a rich source of minerals such as phosphorus and magnesium. For example, the high phosphorus content of Zonocerus variegatus of up to 21,800mg per 100g allows adults to reach the recommended dietary intake with consumption of only a 30g portion of it⁽⁶⁾ (Zonocerus variegatus is currently not available in the UK market as edible insects). In addition, the presence of a considerable amount of chitin in edible insects⁽¹⁷⁾ (at around 10% of its dry matter) may improve the microflora of the gut, thereby boosting overall gut health⁽¹⁰⁾.

The combination of a low environmental footprint along with high nutritional value strongly support the exploration of edible insects as an alternative source of protein.

Another area of interest for the edible insect industry is the extraction and fractionation of valuable components for industrial applications. This includes the development of modern technique to totally or partially extract functional ingredients such as bioactive peptides, protein, chitin and oleic acid⁽¹⁴⁾. The extracted functional ingredients can then be used in several ways including fortification in the food industry or production of supplements by the pharmaceutical industry. For example, chitin is a promising source of carbohydrates that has a wide range of applications in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and textiles industries.