UN Agency Pushes for Bugs on the Menu

Insects such as beetles, caterpillars, bees and wasps may soon find a place in your regular diet. These are nutritious alternatives to mainstream staples such as chicken, pork, beef and fish, being a good source of protein, fats, calcium, iron and zinc.

Besides being healthy, these may prove critical in the fight against hunger, according to a new study by United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The research released at the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition in Rome has highlighted the role of insects for food and feed consumption.

Muller, Director of FAO's Forest Economic Policy and Products Division, which co-authored 'Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security', stated we are not suggesting that people should be eating bugs but insects are just one resource provided by forests, and insects are pretty much untapped for their potential for food, and especially for feed.

According to the FAO estimates, insects form part of the traditional diets of at least 2 billion; with more than 1900 insect species are consumed by humans worldwide. The most consumed insects include – beetles (31 per cent), caterpillars (18 per cent), bees, wasps and ants (14 per cent) and grasshoppers, locusts and crickets (13 per cent).

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