Afton Halloran

Entomophagy is a common practice in many regions of the world but there are few examples of national regulations that govern insects for human consumption. Where entomophagy is not common, the current regulatory discourse focuses primarily on food safety and consumer protection. In countries where insects contribute to local diets, nature conservat...

Insects are part of the traditional diets of approximately 2 billion people worldwide. Insects can contribute to food security and be a part of the solution to protein shortages, given their high nutritional value, low emissions of greenhouse gases, low requirements for land and water, and the high efficiency at which they can convert feed into foo...

This book draws on a wide range of scientific research on the contribution that insects make to ecosystems, diets, food security and livelihoods in both developed and developing countries.

Background Edible insects are a sustainable source of high-quality animal protein. Insect farming is gaining interest globally, particularly in low-income countries, where it may provide substantial nutritional and economic benefits. To enhance insect farming practices in Africa, new farming systems are being developed. However, knowledge on how to...

Farming crickets for human consumption is emerging as a promising novel and sustainable animal-source food production system. Cricket farming in Kenya first began in 2013; however, adoption rates have been slower than expected. This paper presents a pilot study of farmers’ awareness of and interest in adopting cricket farming as a new agricultural...

Worldwide, agroforestry has been shown to provide farmers and communities with a range of direct services such as food, livestock feed, wood and medicine as well as indirect ecosystem services such as pollination, pest and weed control, and soil formation and enrichment. These multiple benefits suggest that woody perennials, such as trees and shrub...

How can the Nordic countries address pressing global challenges like food waste, unsustainable diets and the loss of biodiversity? This very question was the starting point for Nordic Food Day on the 9th of November. The Nordic Pavilion at COP23 was transformed into a pop-up think tank, bringing representatives from leading organizations and instit...

Technical Report #6 about the legislative environment for insects as food and feed in Kenya and East Africa as part of the GREEiNSECT project

For the first time, the most innovative food policy solutions in the Nordic Region have been brought together in a single document. The Solutions Menu includes 24 policies that aim to change food consumption and intends to inspire new and robust policy responses to the societal and environmental challenges caused by our current food systems.

With an expanding edible insect industry, regulators, legislators, and policy-makers face increasingly difficult decisions regarding trade, production, harvesting, and consumption. It is becoming clearer that no panacea or one-size-fits-all solutions exist for regulating the industry, and that solutions regarding a formal or informal economy must b...

In entering Western markets, edible insects are typically framed as the ‘solution’ to a number of challenges caused by unsustainable global food systems, such as climate change and global health issues. In addition, some media outlets also frame insects as the next ‘superfood’. Superfood is a marketing term for nutrient-packed foods, which are succ...

This chapter systematically compares and contrasts the known environmental impacts of traditional vertebrate animal production with insect production intended for both food and animal feed. There are major physiological and biological differences between traditional livestock species and insects, which often translate into lower environmental impac...

Insects have been absent from European diets with only few regional exceptions, making them an uncommon ingredient in the kitchens of fine dining establishments. This chapter investigates whether a piece the puzzle of understanding the temporality or permanence of edible insects in modern European diets lies in the willingness of chefs to use them...

This text provides an important overview of the contributions of edible insects to ecological sustainability, livelihoods, nutrition and health, food culture and food systems around the world. While insect farming for both food and feed is rapidly increasing in popularity around the world, the role that wild insect species have played in the lives...

Cricket farming can have a positive impact on rural development and rural economy in low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, crickets have the potential to address food and nutrition insecurity and promote food sovereignty through the promotion of local production and consumption. This paper presents and discusses five complementary studies con...

This chapter highlights a part of the work carried out within the framework of the DESIRABLE project ("DESIgning the Insect bioRefinery to contribute to a more sustainABLE agro-food industry"), funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). Here, our aim is to present original research results to operators willing to implement insect-based va...

Insects have been part of indigenous food culture in different parts of Kenya. Newly revived interest in the utilization of insects has raised the question: how can insects be used as an ingredient in various products and gastronomy? For many, different insect species are ingredients for which their taste, aromatic, textural and visual characterist...

Growing global food demand has generated a greater interest in the consumption of new and diversified protein sources. Novel foodstuffs represent a challenge for food law as they need proper safety assessments before obtaining market permission. The case of edible insects and European law is a good representation of this issue because a selection o...

The technical brief #2 provides an overview of farming systems for crickets and black soldier fly, currently investigated under the GREEiNSECT project. The brief highlights some of the main cricket species available in Kenya. Further, a small-scale and large- scale farming system, including optimization of feed formulations are presented. The bri...

Compared to their vertebrate counterparts in traditional husbandry, insects are extremely efficient at converting organic matter into animal protein and dietary energy. For this reason, insects for food and feed show great potential as an environmentally friendly choice in future food systems. However, to obtain a true assessment of this, more info...

While many important aspects of wild and farmed insects have been discussed by scholars, such as nutritional value, conservation and farming techniques, no study has addressed how insect farming contributes to rural livelihoods. Furthermore, the roles that interactions between insect farmers, their peers and institutions play in insect farming as a...

Cricket farming was developed as a response to the Asian Economic Crisis that hit Thailand. Khon Kaen University researchers began promoting low-tech cricket farming methods to assist unemployed workers who were returning to rural communities in poorest region of the country – northeastern Thailand – after working in urban industries. Cricket farmi...

Insects have a long history as a part the diets of several ethnic groups in Kenya. Traditionally, the consumption of insects has mainly taken place in the western provinces of the country and has included primarily grasshoppers, termites, lake flies and crickets. While these species are harvested and prepared solely for human consumption, attentio...

Since cricket farming was introduced in Thailand in 1997, domestic, regional and international interest in the edible cricket industry has increased. This study aims to identify emerging themes related the development of the edible cricket industry over the past decades. It also discusses additional themes in the development of the cricket industry...

There is growing interest in insects as human food in academia, food and agricultural industries, public institutions and the public at large. Yet many of the words and concepts used to describe these organisms and the human practices surrounding them are still rudimentary, compared to the diversity of the organisms themselves and the existing comp...

Amidst the growing interest in edible insects, most insect dishes featured on menus or during public events are still primarily focused on fried, freeze dried or pulverised insects. This can be attributed to a limited understanding and knowledge of the complexity and variation in unique sensory profiles of insects, as well as how they can be proces...

The issues surrounding the provision, preparation and development of food products is fundamental to every human being on the planet. Given the scarcity of agricultural land, environmental pollution, climate change and the exponential growth of the world’s population where starvation and obesity are both widespread it is little wonder that explorin...

The issues surrounding the provision, preparation and development of food products is fundamental to every human being on the planet. Given the scarcity of agricultural land, environmental pollution, climate change and the exponential growth of the world’s population where starvation and obesity are both widespread it is little wonder that explorin...

Edible insects may be available on the European market in the coming years. However, the marketing of edible insects is currently constrained by legislation. The EU Commission deems insects to be considered as Novel Food (Heinimaa and Trunk 2014) with the need for a pre market approval. However since food consisting of whole animal products are not...

moMentum + Insekter til foder og føde moMentum+ er det naturvidenskabelige temamagasin henvendt til jordbrugsakademikere og DMs cand.scient. medlemmer. Magasinets mål er at højne den faglige debat inden for natur, miljø og teknik

As a multifunctional activity and land use, urban agriculture supports a range of objectives, from urban greening to food security. However, it is often left out of urban policy. As a result of the highly contextual and cross-cutting nature of urban agriculture, there are relatively few comprehensive and formalized regulatory tools to draw from. Di...

Despite significant contributions to human health, livelihoods and food security, urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam has received relatively little political support from central and local government due to its informal state. As a result, many urban farmers’ experience insecurity of land access and ownership, and are unable to invest in the improv...

The use of insects as food and feed has many environmental, health and social/livelihood benefits. For example: environmenTal benefiTs • Insects have a high feed conversion efficiency because they are cold-blooded. Feed-to-meat conversion rates (how much feed is needed to produce a 1 kg increase in weight) vary widely depending on the class of the...