Wiboon Chongrattanameteekul, Ph.D.

Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture Kasetsart University, Thailand

Outline of story

General introduction and roles of insects

Food and nutrition security; relevance to

insects

Why eating insects?

Edible insects in Thailand

Cautions and guidelines

Insects and human being

………insects live in the human world or

humans live in the insect‟s world????

Insects occurred on this planet about 350-400

millions years ago.

Homo sapiens appeared on the earth about

250,000 years ago.

What do we have in common ?

We are both “consumers”.

………insects live in the human world or

humans live in the insect‟s world????

………….share the same world……………

Destructive roles of insect

Insects as pests of crop plants (pre- and postharvest) and livestock.

Insects which destroy human‟s properties

Insects as direct pest of human and pets and

venomous insects.

Entomophobia / Arachnophobia

Beneficial roles of insect

Insect as pollinator. Without insects, many

plant species will become extinct. Insect

pollination enhanced average crop yield

between 18 and 71% depending on the crop (Ignasi Bartomeus et al., 2014).

Insect as natural control agent of harmful pest species. Predators and parasitoids.

Insects for insect products. Honey bee, silkworm, lac insects

Insect as waste biodegradation agent.

Termites, flies, dung beetles etc. clean up

dead plants, dead animals and animal wastes.

Insects used in scientific study, forensic science.

Insect for ornamental / aesthetic value

Insects as source of food and feed

Food and nutrition security The world‟s population is expected to hit 9 billion people

by 2050 and it is likely to drastically increase food demand over the coming decades.

News headline: UN warns world must produce 60% more food by 2050 to avoid mass unrest. (http://on.rt.com/bjxdo4).

Hidden hunger issues.

How can we increase world food supply? Expanding production area ?

Increasing production efficiency ?

Improving postharvest technology and

food distribution system to reduce food waste ?

Innovative food sources ?

Relevance of insect to food and nutrition security Insects compete with human beings for

available food causing food insecurity; consumer pest.

Insect contamination can causes food waste and rejection of food and agricultural commodities from international trade.

Insects can alter quality of crops to unacceptable level

Chemical control of insect may leave insecticide residue creating food safety problems.

Why eating insects? https://edibug.wordpress.com/why-eat-bugs-2/ gave top 10

reasons to eat insects:

Most edible insect species are highly nutritious.

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Pro

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(g

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Fa

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CH

O (

g)

Fe

(m

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Ca

(m

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P (

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K (

mg

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Vit

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(Th

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Vit

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Vit

B3

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Locust 14.3 3.3 2.2 3.0 27.5 150.2 217.4 0.19 0.57 6.67

Small grasshopper

20.6 6.1 3.9 5.0 35.2 238.4 237.4 0.23 1.86 4.64

Mole cricket 15.4 6.3 1.7 41.7 75.7 254.1 267.8 0.20 1.89 4.81

Diving beetle 21.0 7.1 0.3 6.4 36.7 204.8 197.9 0.31 3.51 6.85

Silkworm pupae

9.6 5.6 2.3 1.8 41.7 155.4 138.7 0.12 1.05 0.89

Chicken 20.8 2.4 0 1.2 11.0 214.0 - 0.15 0.16 7.90

Beef 20.0 7.2 0 3.0 9.0 171.0 - 0.07 0.34 6.70

Pork (without lard)

14.1 35.0 0 2.1 8.0 151.0 - 0.69 0.16 3.70

Source: Division of Nutrition, Thailand

Nutritional values per 100 g fresh weight of food

It is up to 20 times more efficient to raise insect

protein than beef. That‟s per pound or per

kilogram. This is mainly because insects do not

„waste‟ food energy on things like raising their

body temperature, or making bones, fur,

feathers, and other stuff we can‟t eat.

It takes less water to raise insects — much,

much less: up to 1000 times less.

If insects themselves were deemed a food crop,

imagine how much we could cut down on

pesticide use, and its associated

environmental damage.

Many insects are tasty: some larvae taste like

bacon. Who doesn‟t like bacon?

Insects are a great, inexpensive, green source

of the protein desperately needed by starving

peoples. If we can help create a market and

funding for it, there is the potential to help spread nourishment throughout the planet.

Entomophagy around the world

Source: FAO Forestry paper no. 171, 2013

Insect Order No.of species

Coleoptera 344

Hymenoptera 313

Lepidoptera 235

Orthoptera 209

Hemiptera 92

Isoptera 39

Blattodea 30

Odonata 20

Ephemeroptera 7

Mecoptera 4

Phthiraptera 3

Diptera 3

Modified from Ramos-Elorduy (1998)

Edible insects in Thailand In Thailand, eating insect is common in rural

area but now it spreads all over the country.

Locusts and grasshoppers (approx. 7 EUR/kg)

Giant water bug (approx. 40 cent/male bug

and 20 cent/female bug)

Weaving ant eggs, larvae, pupae and adults (approx. 8 EUR/kg)

Silkworm pupae (approx. 6-7 EUR/kg)

Bamboo caterpillars (approx. 73 EUR/kg)

Crickets (approx. 2.5-6 EUR/kg)

Palm weevil (approx. 7-8 EUR/kg)

Some cautions

Food safety issues:

microbial pathogens associated with insects eg.

cricket can be carrier of a round worm parasite,

Physaloptera caucasica Linstow ;

pesticide residue; insects collected from nature

may be contaminated with pesticide

allergic reaction of consumers

Legal issues

Basic guidelines for entomophagy

Eat only insects that have been known edible.

Collect them when they are still alive.

Avoid eating urban/household insects which are

known to transmit diseases.

Avoid eating colorful insects.

Hard wings, spiny legs and other risky parts

should be removed before consumption.

Standard sanitary measures must be followed.

Avoid eating raw, eat only cooked insect.

Gastronomy

Thank you……