Global food shortages and the search for more nutritious and sustainable products are forcing consumers and scientists to turn to unconventional food sources, the most promising of which are edible insects. Julia Muir, one of the leading experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), told RIA Novosti that eating insects for more than two billion people is "not news, but common practice."
According to the director of a company that has been raising crickets near Turin for several years, "consumption statistics show that by 2050, if we do not find another source of protein, there will not be enough for everyone in the world." The secret of the nutritional value of crickets, he said, lies primarily in the highest protein content. In addition, crickets consume two thousand times less water than bulls and cows, and require almost six times less feed per kilogram.
According to Albano, crickets can enter everyone's diet in the form of flour, which is added in a ratio of one to nine to any baked goods or pasta dough. In the form of flour, they resemble chopped hazelnuts, since they are partially roasted during production. The businessman also expressed confidence that "a pan-European permit for food production would allow feeding Italian crickets not only animals, but also people."
Julia Muir, however, is sure that insects cannot be the only solution to the problem of world hunger, since "they are now underestimated." However, she noted that "organizations such as the World Food Program (WFP) can include insect ingredients in fortified food kits."
Talking about the potential of new types of food, Muir called a good sign of changes in the legislation of European countries that will allow the use of insects for human nutrition.
Alexander Logunov