Entomophagy – why should it bug you? The ethics of insect production for food and feed

TY - GEN

T1 - Entomophagy – why should it bug you? The ethics of insect production for food and feed

AU - Gjerris, Mickey

AU - Gamborg, Christian

AU - Röcklinsberg, Helena

N1 - Conference code: 12

PY - 2015/1/1

Y1 - 2015/1/1

N2 - Humans have, as far as the archeological records show, always eaten insects, reaching over 2000 edible species today. Given a growing global human population and high pressure on resources, interest in insects as a nutrious protein source for human food (entomophagy) and novel protein source for animal feed is developing. Compared to most other sources of animal protein insects are considered to be an environmentally low-impact source of nutrients. In a Western context the search for sustainable food and feed products has therefore lead to a growing interest in the area. However, as insects score low on the socio-zoological scale, but high on the ‘disgust’-scale, mainly based on culturally transmitted information, utilizing insects in the food sector will probably face consumer resistance. The use of insects as a major human food and feed source is thought to present two major challenges: how to turn insects into safe, tasty socially acceptable feed and food and how to cheaply yet sustainably produce enough insects? The focus in this paper is on the animal ethics aspects of the second challenge. While invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, their welfare is overlooked compared to vertebrates. Absence of proof is, however, not proof of absence, cf. growing recognition of cognitive and emotional abilities in fish. Thus the welfare of different insects within different ‘production’ systems needs to be taken into account and – in parallel to fish – the welfare capacities of each species need to be studied to accomplish this. But the growing interest in entomophagy also evokes other ethical issues: Is there such a thing as ‘insect integrity’, and if so, are we ethically obliged to protect it? Does it make sense to ethically speak of insect commodification and its pros and cons for ecosystems, animals and humans? In this thematic survey of welfare and ethical issues we build both on the at present scarce literature of insect welfare and ethics and the ever-increasing literature on ethics of animal production.

AB - Humans have, as far as the archeological records show, always eaten insects, reaching over 2000 edible species today. Given a growing global human population and high pressure on resources, interest in insects as a nutrious protein source for human food (entomophagy) and novel protein source for animal feed is developing. Compared to most other sources of animal protein insects are considered to be an environmentally low-impact source of nutrients. In a Western context the search for sustainable food and feed products has therefore lead to a growing interest in the area. However, as insects score low on the socio-zoological scale, but high on the ‘disgust’-scale, mainly based on culturally transmitted information, utilizing insects in the food sector will probably face consumer resistance. The use of insects as a major human food and feed source is thought to present two major challenges: how to turn insects into safe, tasty socially acceptable feed and food and how to cheaply yet sustainably produce enough insects? The focus in this paper is on the animal ethics aspects of the second challenge. While invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, their welfare is overlooked compared to vertebrates. Absence of proof is, however, not proof of absence, cf. growing recognition of cognitive and emotional abilities in fish. Thus the welfare of different insects within different ‘production’ systems needs to be taken into account and – in parallel to fish – the welfare capacities of each species need to be studied to accomplish this. But the growing interest in entomophagy also evokes other ethical issues: Is there such a thing as ‘insect integrity’, and if so, are we ethically obliged to protect it? Does it make sense to ethically speak of insect commodification and its pros and cons for ecosystems, animals and humans? In this thematic survey of welfare and ethical issues we build both on the at present scarce literature of insect welfare and ethics and the ever-increasing literature on ethics of animal production.

U2 - 10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_52

DO - 10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_52

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-90-8686-264-1

VL - 1

SP - 347

EP - 352

BT - Know your food

A2 - Dumitras, Diana Elena

A2 - Mugurel Jitea, Ionel

A2 - Aerts, Stef

PB - Wageningen Academic Publishers

CY - Wageningen

T2 - 12th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

Y2 - 28 May 2015 through 30 May 2015

ER -