Scientists: Eat More Bugs

U.N. Conference Experts Say High-Protein Creepy-Crawlies Can Fight World Hunger

(AP)  Crickets, caterpillars and grubs are high in protein and minerals and could be an important food source during droughts and other emergencies, according to scientists.

"I definitely think they can assist," said German biologist V.B. Meyer-Rochow, who regularly eats insects and wore a T-shirt with a Harlequin longhorn beetle to a U.N.-sponsored conference this month on promoting bugs as a food source.

Three dozen scientists from 15 countries gathered in this northern Thailand city, home to several dozen restaurants serving insects and other bugs. Some of their proposals were more down to earth than others.

A Japanese scientist proposed bug farms on spacecraft to feed astronauts, noting that it would be more practical than raising cows or pigs. Australian, Dutch and American researchers said more restaurants are serving the critters in their countries.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 1,400 species of insects and worms are eaten in almost 90 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Researchers at the conference detailed how crickets and silk worms are eaten in Thailand, grubs and grasshoppers in Africa and ants in South America.

"In certain places with certain cultures with a certain level of acceptance, then insects can very well be seen as part of the solution" to hunger, said Patrick Durst, a Bangkok-based senior forestry officer at the FAO.

The challenge, experts said, is organizing unregulated, small bug food operations in many countries so they can supplement the food that aid agencies provide. The infrastructure to raise, transport and market bugs is almost nonexistent in most countries.

Prof. Arnold van Huis, a tropical entomologist known as "Mr. Edible Insect" in his native Netherlands, blamed a Western bias against eating insects for the failure of aid agencies to incorporate bugs into their mix.

"They are completely biased," van Huis said. "They really have to change. I would urge other donor organizations to take a different attitude toward this ... It's excellent food. It can be sustainable with precautions."

There are questions about the safety of eating bugs and potential dangers from over-harvesting them, said Durst, who became interested in the practice known scientifically as entomophagy during his years working in Bangkok, where crickets and bamboo worms are sold as food by street vendors.

Tina van den Briel, senior nutritionist at the World Food Program, the U.N. agency that provides food in emergencies, expressed doubt that insects can benefit large, vulnerable populations. Most bugs are seasonal and have a short shelf life, she said.

"They can be a very good complement to the diet," said van den Briel, not a conference participant. "But they do not lend themselves to programs like ours where you transport food over long distances and where you have to store food for a few months."

She suggested a more practical benefit might be adding insects to animal feed or crushing them into a meal powder that could be used to make cookies or cakes.

Meyer-Rochow said aid agencies might even find a way to harvest crop-destroying swarms of locusts and crickets.

"These mass outbreaks could be a valuable food source," he said. "If the technology is available, they could be ground up like a paste and added to the food humans eat."

[grammawhamma]

What do these large beetles eat? I suppose we would have to grow crops to feed the beetles so we can harvest them for food. I would rather eat the crops planted for the beetle food.

Beetle Juice takes on a whole new meaning now.

[rbailey31]

OK,YEA,YEA,WE ALL KNOW (OR SHOULD KNOW) THAT THE GOVERMENT ALLOWS SO MUCH BUG PARTS 2 -B IN OUP PEANUT BUTTER,SPA.SAUCE,ETC..I CANNOT VISIBLY SEE THEM,BUT !! IF I HAD 2 ACTUALLY SEE & EAT LIKE IN THE ABOVE PHOTO,THEN U CAN COUNT ME OUT !!! I WOULD END UP BARFIN IT UP ANYWAY,COZ THE SIGHT OF THEM ALONE MAKES ME WANT 2 !!!GIVE ME A BOWL OF DRY PURINA DOG CHOW INSTEAD THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!!

[extremophil]

First they say the bees are endangered, then they say eat more bugs. Someone should make up their mind.

[dredre2k]

People eat bugs all the time!
The FDA has acceptable limits for the amount of bug parts that can be contained in canned & process food!
So the next time you''re eating canned fruit, be sure to savor the ground up bug bits that were processed into the food ;-).

[chrisl45]

All I know is all my food comes from a supermarket.

[killtheliars]

if you are starving then eat bugs. I can afford beef and chicken as well as fresh vegatables and will never eat bugs

[estabwary]

Remember the guy who said we should eat boogers?

Here is our future: boogers & bugs.

[rf35]

Feed the bugs to the cattle as a replacement for the corn that''s being diverted to ethanol manufacturing. Bring the price of beef way down, up production, and the hungry get hamburger.

[erasmus6]

People need to start introducing bugs into the diet of their kids so that it is an accepted thing to do because in the future there isn''t going to be much to eat. You don''t want your kids to suffer do you? Better get crackin'', times a-wastin''.

[round_table]

My theory has been that all those shows on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, etc. that challenge young people to eat various insects set to rock or techno workout music is really an attempt to acclimatize us to some grim future scenario where your local Macdonalds is equipt with an aircraft spotlight and a large net that they reel in every so often throughout the night.

[chrisl45]

I''m semi-vegetarian and have unwittingly bought fresh food with ant farms in a peach pit, red tail waging worms in rasberry hard plastic packages, green worms in green peppers, worms in cucumber like vegetables etc. I go to many stores but the outcome is always the same, it happens.

[chrisl45]

What if a certain bug has a certain ingredient which will make you live longer and healthier. There are non-bug juices such as noni, acai, et cetera. Why not start rolling out to the information highway bug information. What if they can become a better an ideal medicine. A medicine which is better than anything we already have. Later, the ingredients can be captured and put in a pill. Many countries have bugs on plate, cats in the oven, and live mice as food, why can''t I.

[chrisl45]

I thought of a way where it could work. Some hugh company makes youth-catching commercials of a great tasting and highly nutricious bug with all the details. The company then goes on to play these commercials for years and years. The trick is the food item will catch-on years later. If some big company could afford the loss for 10 or so years it might work and eventually pay off. I''ll eat it a few years from now, definately! Now the company has to find the most nutricious bug to mass produce. So, if it will make me live longer I''ll begin to crave it. The bugs on me.

[easeup-2009]

Anyone have a good cricket recipe? I''ve got people coming over.

[salty1954]

We''re already eating bugs, here is the US.
FDA guidelines allow for a certain amount of insect parts in virtually every food.
The vegetarians are eating more bugs than the omnivores, sorry!

[drinuk]

Sorry this ''aint going to work. Big Pharma failed to get the patent on "Roaches" and the FDA executives could not obtain a Backhander on "Cricket" pot roast.

They did however succeed in poisoning all of us with Aspartame and Corn Syrup, not to mention the banning of genuine Cancer cures AND SO by the time the Big Drought or the Big Flood arrives we will all be pushing up Daises in the Churchyard, being eaten by all those lovely little bugs. AMEN.

[easeup-2009]

walt

They have WiFi in the nut house?

[iceman_1960]

"A Japanese scientist proposed bug farms on spacecraft to feed astronauts"
--------------------

Something like that would have taken all the romance out of Star Wars.

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush II is extremely interested in the findings by the UN that a diet of worms, bugs, and other repulsive looking creatures is high in protein and would stave off hunger.

The Great Emperor Bush feels this maybe an important food source for the millions of "under privileged" within the borders of the US(SA), allowing more "normal" for the wealthy elite. After all, it would be unthinkable for the wealthy to eat bugs, just like the "under privileged" since they are the ruling class and must appear "well-fed"!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
sig heil, McCain???

[emilymhanson]

Makes me glad I went vegetarian.