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REVIEW article

of Food Technology and Nutrition, School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bioengineering, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

For the cultural and biological process of eating insects, see Entomophagy in humans. Whole, fried edible insects as street food in Germany Whole, steamed silkworm pupae as street food in South Korea ( beondegi) Most edible insects are regional and rarely exported partly because the transportation of raw insects might bring quarantine issues. Only very few cases have been reported that immigrants import special local insect products from their hometown (Bukkens 1997). However, the ready-to-eat products can be clean and importable if they are prepared by standardard method. This requires a mature industrial line. The industrialization of edible insects is therefore the foundation of the global consumption of many insects. The insects groups eaten sometimes differ distinctly even in neighboring regions because people usually just follow their traditions, which however, brings the opportunity of developing new edible insects from native creatures (Meyer-Rochow 2005). A trend of eating longan stink bugs ( Tessaratoma papillosa), which is one of the principal pests of litchi, hits southern China recently. The bug is famous for jetting smelly venom when being caught. But they are now an ambrosia to some people after proper frying or simmering. It was only consumed in Thailand, but it has successfully been promoted to warm areas where initially have the stink bugs colonized (Feng et al. 2000; Raksakantong et al. 2010). The stink bugs are thus being caught massively, which has contributed to the IPM of litchi, too. Rumpold, B.A., & Schlüter O.K. (2013) Potential and challenges of insects as an innovative source for food and feed production. Innov Food Sci Emerg Technol 17, 1–11.a b Murefu, T. R.; Macheka, L.; Musundire, R.; Manditsera, F. A. (2019-07-01). "Safety of wild harvested and reared edible insects: A review". Food Control. 101: 209–224. doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.03.003. ISSN 0956-7135. S2CID 92035963. Ernst, W. H. O., & Sekhwela, M. B. M. (1987). The chemical-composition of lerps from the mopane psyllid Arytaina-Mopane (Homoptera, Psyllidae). Insect Biochemistry, 17(6), 905. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1790(87)90027-8. Yen, A.L. Insects as food and feed in the Asia Pacific region: Current perspectives and future directions. J. Insects Food Feed. 2015, 1, 33–55. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] It ought to be obvious to anyone with an appetite that the way we eat is not sustainable – and that something fundamental will have to shift if we do not want to end up with half the world obese and the other half under water. “Civilisation is in crisis,” was the verdict of the EAT-Lancet international commission into the global food chain in 2019, which contained a dire warning of 200,000 years of human history culminating in ecological disaster. Modern industrial agriculture, extractive capitalism, the profit motive, governments cowering before Big Food and our own greedy western appetites all must take a share of the blame. The baked chips revealed a higher quantity of protein, iron, and calcium when compared to the control.

Quah, Y.; Tong, S.-R.; Bojarska, J.; Giller, K.; Tan, S.-A.; Ziora, Z.M.; Esatbeyoglu, T.; Chai, T.-T. Bioactive peptide discovery from edible insects for potential applications in human health and agriculture. Molecules 2023, 28, 1233. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] Payne, C. (2014). Wild harvesting declines as pesticides and imports rise: The collection and consumption of insects in contemporary rural Japan. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 1(1), 57–65. The world's population is expected to reach 9.2 billion in 2050, with most increases occurring in less developed regions ( 1, 2). Therefore, the worldwide demand for food and meat is likely to increase by 50 and 85%, respectively ( 3). The vast majority of the hungry people−827 million—live in developing regions and Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounting for a prevalence of 24.8% ( 4). Among the undernourished populations, over 2 billion people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies globally ( 5). In terms of global public health significance, iron, zinc, and vitamins are the most important micronutrients ( 6, 7), which play key roles in preventing malnutrition and early stunting ( 7). The deficiency of these nutrients is prevalent in areas where there is high cereal and low animal products consumption ( 8), especially resource-poor areas where the situation is exacerbated by infectious diseases ( 5). Besides the traditional nutrient deficiency diseases, there is a rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases in both developing and developed countries. Thus, deficiencies of these important nutrients have negative effects on many physiological systems and health, leading to high economic burden for many countries with increasing risk of morbidity and impaired physical and cognitive development ( 9) as well as poor pregnancy outcome ( 10, 11). The bibliometric analyses used analysed the available literature and identified some of the current trends, which illustrate the fact that the use of edible insects may increase in the future. The literature attests to the growing interest on the topic, and a variety of studies which have been trying to provide a better understanding on how various elements (e.g., the diversity of edible insects and their availability and cultural components) interact. Their use may also help to migrate some of the existing inequalities in Africa regarding access to food. Dutta, P.; Dey, T.; Manna, P.; Kalita, J. Antioxidant potential of Vespa affinis L., a traditional edible insect species of North East India. PLoS ONE 2016, 11, e0156107. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef]FAO. Thinking about the Future of Food Safety—A Foresight Report; Food and Agriculture Organization: Rome, Italy, 2022. [ Google Scholar] Ramos-Elorduy, J. (2008). Energy supplied by edible insects from Mexico and their nutritional and ecological importance. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 47(3), 280–297.