Insect proteins-a new source for animal feed: The use of insect larvae to recycle food waste in high-quality protein for livestock and aquaculture feeds is held back largely owing to regulatory hurdles.

Abstract

More than 1 billion people already suffer from chronic hunger, and the world population is expected to grow from 6.8 billion people to about 9 billion by 2050 [1]. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) anticipates that food requirements will have to increase by between 70 and 100% to both alleviate existing hunger and malnutrition and feed the additional 2 billion people. If even more land and more natural resources are dedicated to food production, this will have devastating consequences for the Earth's remaining biodiversity. Achieving higher yields from the same land area without severely impacting the environment requires a new way of approaching food production, that is a sustainable intensification, which implies a major improvement in recycling available resources and waste. Indeed, there is huge scope for improving recycling: in the European Union alone, about 90 million tons of foods is discarded each year by private households, retailers and the food industry—the fisheries and agriculture sectors are not included in these figures. > … in the European Union alone, about 90 million tons of foods are discarded each year by private households, retailers and the food industry… At present, the increasing use of arable land for the production of bioenergy plants, rather than crop plants, is leading to a serious reduction in available land for food production worldwide. Similarly, livestock production in the western hemisphere is consuming 85% of global soya production to make concentrated animal feeds (including aquaculture diets), precluding the use of that soya for human consumption. The land used for soya production by just the three major global producers (Brazil, the USA and Argentina) is about 90 million hectares. These areas exhibit the well‐known effects of monocultured crops including destroyed biodiversity, decreased soil fertility and depleted water resources. > … livestock production in the western hemisphere is consuming 85% …