ABSTRACT

Insects constitute a large part of the earth’s terrestrial biomass, with an estimated 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive at any given time (van Huis et al., 2013). Insects play intrinsically important roles in all terrestrial ecosystems and contribute to essential ecosystem services as plant pollinators and by disposing of plant and animal waste (see Gemmill-Herren, Chapter 7 of this Handbook). Among their contributions to ecosystem services, some insect species also offer potential as a nutrient-rich food for humans, and as a feed additive (Vantomme et al., 2012). The consumption of insects provides many benefits, including providing a nutritious source of micronutrients and protein with far lower environmental impact as compared with traditional livestock (van Huis et al., 2013). In fact, edible insects, or insects that are safe for humans to eat, are already used as an important food source for humans in many parts of the world and are considered a frequently-consumed food source for an estimated 2 billion people. The majority of these consumers live in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, many in areas which are facing increasing climate-change pressures (Kelemu et al., 2015). Hence, eating insects is more the norm than the exception at the global scale, despite Western societal biases against this food source. In this chapter, we review the status of insects as a critical component of agricultural biodiversity, and future prospects for their exploitation as sustainable food sources.