Benefits of using edibleinsects as alternative protein source

Abstract

There is an urgent need for alternative protein sources due to the rapid population growth, climate change, environmental degradation by pollution, food-fuel competition and the reduction in arable land for agricultural use. Conventional livestock production is also deleterious to the environment due to the production of greenhouse gasses and ammonia. This article provides insights into the potentials of edibleinsects as novel food ingredients. The manuscript provides concise explanations for the need of embracing additional protein sources, edibleinsects consumption and their nutritional benefits and environmental and economic advantages of using edibleinsects as food. Literature was gathered through an online search on the Science Direct database and Google Scholar, relevant papers published between January 2002 and November 2020 were cited. Edibleinsects are good source of essential nutrients. They are rich in proteins and essential amino acids, contain good quality lipids and significant amounts of important minerals. They are potential source of proteins for humans and animals. They can play an important role in global food security by providing essential nutrients to the increasing global population. This can only be achieved when more attention is given to their production and processing. Creating awareness among new consumers on their nutritional and environmental benefits and the development of food products with appealing sensory properties will surely improve their acceptance as food.

Edible black ant Smith (Carebara vidua) as human food – A systematic review

“…This is because insects are poikilothermic in which energy is not required to maintain the body temperature. Thus, the abundance of energy obtained from their feed will be utilised in their reproduction and growth which efficiently impacts on FCR (Abdullahi et al, 2022;Lange and Nakamura, 2023). Therefore, black ants Smith, require less feed than crickets and are considered to have a higher feed efficiency.…”

“…In addition, edible insects farming is considered more economical than conventional livestock farming. This is attributed to the fact that insect farming only requires significantly less space, land, and water resources than livestock farming (Testa et al, 2017;Abdullahi et al, 2022). Doreau et al (2012) demonstrated that approximately 70% of water is utilised in agricultural practices including livestock farming.…”

Edible ink for food printing and packaging applications: a review

“…The use of edible inks is not only limited to printing on food products, but can be extended to printing on edible paper, wafer paper, and icing sheets. 5 The development of edible ink technology has come a long way since its inception. The earliest forms of edible ink were made from vegetable dyes and were limited in color range and print quality.…”

“…The use of edible inks is not only limited to printing on food products, but can be extended to printing on edible paper, wafer paper, and icing sheets. 5…”