Insects Are Nutritious And Safe To Eat, UN Says

While this may not be an appealing idea to many Nigerians, "Eat More Insects" is the title of a new book recently released by the Food and Agricultural organization (FAO). According to the international organization, beetles, wasps and caterpillars are part of a group of unexplored sources of nutrition that can help the world in its quest to overcome imminent global food insecurity.

According to the book entitled "Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security", insects have both nutritional values and are beneficial to the environment. It also presents food experts with a great to tackle the increasing global food demand.

"Insects are high in protein, fat and mineral contents," FAO says.

It also suggested that people should eat insects as a whole or ground into a powder or paste for incorporation into other meals.

Eva Muller, the Director of Forest Economics, Policy and Products Division at FAO stated that insects are safe to eat.

“Insects are not harmful to eat, quite the contrary. They are nutritious; they have a lot of protein and are considered a delicacy in many countries”. She also highlighted the huge untapped potential in insect farming and the need to explore it in view of growing populations.

Although not staples of many countries, insects presently supplement the diet of some 2 billion people and have always been part of human diets in Asia, Africa and Latin America.  About 1900 insect species are consumed by humans out of the about 1 million known species. Some of the most consumed include beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets.

The book maintained that production of greenhouse gases by insect farming would likely be lower than that of livestock. For example, pigs produce 10-100 times more greenhouse gases per kilogram than mealworms.

Insects also feed on bio-waste, use significantly less water than livestock, and can be farmed more easily, the book states. It could also offer important source of livelihood to people in rural areas as minimal technical or capital is what they require for basic harvesting and rearing equipment.

“Consumer disgust remains one of the largest barriers to the adoption of insects as viable sources of protein in many Western countries,” Ms. Muller said in an interview. “Nevertheless, history has shown that dietary patterns can change quickly, particularly in the globalized world,” FAO stated.

Eating insects is not strange in Nigeria as several insects are captured and eaten raw or roasted by some ethnic groups across the nation.