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Bug Appétit: Barriers to Entomophagy

Consumer acceptance is the main barrier to the consumption of edible insects.

October 15, 2012 |
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Bug Appétit: Barriers to Entomophagy, 4.3 out of 5 based on 3 ratings

Sources Cited

Ramos-Elorduy J, Moreno JM, Camacho VH. Edible aquatic Coleoptera of the world with an emphasis on Mexico. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2009 Apr 20;5:11.

Ramos-Elorduy J. Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico and some measures to preserve them. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2006 Dec 4;2:51.

Gorham JR. The significance for human health of insects in food. Annu Rev Entomol. 1979;24:209-24.

Sengupta S, Dhanapal P, Ravindran RD, Devi N. Cerebral blindness after scorpion sting. J Neuroophthalmol. 2009 Jun;29(2):154-5.

Acknowledgements

Images thanks to: istolethetv, david.orban, and jntolva.

Transcript

The problem with edible insects is consumer acceptance. Entomophobia, for which scientists “”deplore the public's irrational revulsion and fear of insects, noting that these "attitudes are not at all helped by government regulations that refer to insect parts as filth, lumping them together with rodent droppings.

Our irrational revulsion has even been called a “social type of pollution. “Westerners should become more aware… of the fact that their bias against insects as food has an adverse impact, resulting in a gradual reduction in the use of insects without replacement of lost nutrition." Basically saying, hey even this, is better than getting them hooked on spam and twinkies.

Not to oversell them, though, edible insects are not without their problems—your supper can bite back, and dyspepsia has been reported, which is basically like an upset tummy. Numerous reports record intestinal upsets after people have eaten foods containing insects and mites.

In three experiments conducted on human subjects, ingestion of live house fly larvae produced nausea in 83% of volunteers. Maggots? Live maggots? I think they’re burying the lead, here. How about the whopping 17% of people that didn’t get nauseous.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Kerry Skinner.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Meat from wild animals may trigger less inflammation (see Modern Meat Not Ahead of the Game) and since bugs aren't shot (see Filled Full of Lead) they may be The Healthiest Meat. Maggots may even be used to improve food safety (see Maggot Meat Spray, as I mentioned in my full-length 2012 presentationUprooting the Leading Causes of Death). I'm afraid, however, I would fall into the 83%.

For more context, check out my associated blog post: Adding FDA-Approved Viruses to Meat and What Is the Healthiest Meat?

If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Meat from wild animals may trigger less inflammation (see Modern Meat Not Ahead of the Game) and since bugs aren’t shot (see Filled Full of Lead) they may be The Healthiest Meat. Maggots may even be used to improve food safety (see Maggot Meat Spray, as I mentioned in my full-length 2012 presentation Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death). I’m afraid, however, I would fall into the 83%.

    If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here.

  • Karnslaura

    Ha ha ha! Yes, what about those 17%!!

  • CompBio

    I’ve always thought if I had the chance to eat insects properly prepared, I would.  I recall an article in National Geographic that grubs have a pleasant, nutty taste.

    Question: how about worms?  I recall a news story decades ago about a guy who advocated eating worms and who even made worm cookies for people to try.

    • Kenton

      they do. i’ve known that, on a regular basis, for years %()

    • http://www.facebook.com/diane.krstulovich Diane Krstulovich

      worms make humus – good for growing plants! (earth – soil – is just worm doo-doo, y’know)

  • Noth

    This is completely Evil!
    Leave insects alone! it’s enough that the world harms them all the time, and it’s enough that the world harms larger animals all the time!
    Stop killing other beings to satisfy your mad craving for the flesh!
    This is unethical, and you should be ashamed of yourselves!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Shane-Jackson/1135727622 Shane Jackson

      You mean like sentient plant flesh?

      • donmatesz

         Plants have nervous systems?

        Plants display pain and pleasure responses akin to animals?

    • Toxins

      Noth, this video is poking fun

    • Dave

      Pardon the late reply, but this is worth including. Noth, the point here is that humanity will soon have to rethink it’s food-needs, and insects represent the best choice. This is not about being nice or mean, it’s about survival. What have you been eating for years? Whatever it is, it has to be killed first. Same with bugs.

      Nope, there’s no reason to be ashamed here. Raising insects as food would make a lot more sense, at least in some ways, than continuing to rely only on beef/pork/chicken/fish/etc.

      • Donmatesz

        We don’t kill anything to eat grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits, leaves.   Grains, beans, and seeds all fall from plants that have naturally ended their life cycles. Nuts fall from trees and we harvest them without killing the tree.  Fruits can be picked from the tree or bush without killing the plant.  Leaves can be harvested without killing  the plant. 

        You can cut grass without killing the grass, it won’t scream and it might even make it healthier.  Try cutting an animal or insect in half and see if it continues to live or grows healthier. 

        Bugs have sentience, unlike plants.  You can’t cut a bug in half and watch it regenerate itself as with plants.  There is no ethical similarity between killing insects and eating plants. 

        Do you relish the thought of eating insects?  A natural insect eater would enjoy eating insects live, uncooked and without condiment.  If you feel even the slightest resistance to the idea, you are not by nature an eater of insects.

        Humans don’t require animal protein of any type.  We already can produce all the plant food we need to feed everyone adequately, provided we don’t waste it in raising livestock.  Feeding plants to animals then eating the animals is inefficient regardless of species used, because it is inevitable that the vast majority of food energy fed to the animal will go to support its life process and activity, not to increase its flesh. 

        Raising insects for food does not make economic, nutritional, gustatory, or ethical sense.  I hope we all can grow out of this false belief that we must enslave and eat animals to live well on this earth. 

  • donmatesz

    More problems with insectivory.

    “Some insects secrete toxins, produce toxic metabolites or sequester toxic chemicals from foodplants (Blum, 1978; Duffey, 1980; Wirtz, 1984). Defensive secretions that may be reactive, irritating or toxic include carb- oxylic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, alkaloids, ketones, esters, lactones, phenols, 1,4-quinones, hydrocarbons and steroids, among others. Phytochemicals sequestered by various insects include simple phenolics, flavin, tannins, terpenoids, polyacetylenes, alkaloids, cyanogens, glucosinolates and mimetic amino acids. Insects are also a source of injectant, ingestant, contactant and inhalant allergens (Wirtz, 1984; Gorham, 1991 ), and some insects serve as vectors or passive intermediate hosts of vertebrate pathogens such as bacteria, protozoa, viruses or helminths (Gorham, 1991). More attention should be directed toward assessing these risk factors in the edible insect groups.”

    DeFoliart G.  Insects as Human Food.  Crop Protection (1992) 11: 395-399. 

  • Jball

    Still yuk! 

  • R Ian Flett

    We have been told that meats are full of dead bacteria that leak into the bloodstream and cause inflammation and one regular MD states that dairy is full bacterial “pus”. If insects such as flies and cockroaches are disease carriers, albeit highly nutritious, what is their bacterial load?
    There is a parallel with crustaceans here, such as shrimp, that feed on decaying material. Do we need to gut them as some bother to do, or is it acceptable to eat them whole? Imagine gutting maggots. If cooking does not solve the bacterial problem with meat and dairy, why is it considered sufficient with shrimp and insects? Dead bacteria are the same in both cases. This seems an important, yet unresolved, issue as insects seem to be an excellent and efficient protein source.

    • http://www.facebook.com/diane.krstulovich Diane Krstulovich

      so are plants

  • Andrew

    I am a new fan of these videos.  Thank you so much for producing them.

    I look forward to returning to subjects not about eating insects & maggots.

    • Kenton

      i like the topic yet then again i like insects.

  • BCBilly

    What about the exoskeletons.  Before I switched to a plant-based diet… I would shell prawns, and crab, eating only the meat hidden within.  I would think eating bugs with exoskeletons would be a bit hard on the digestion process.

    • Troy

      meat with fibre?

      • http://www.facebook.com/diane.krstulovich Diane Krstulovich

        lol

  • Thinkaboudit

    I have a difficult time with the search function on this site. I’m trying to find the video that talks about the potassium contents of various foods, surprisingly, bananas not being even close to the top. Is there a trick to using the search?

    • http://www.facebook.com/JenniferRuthGreene Jennifer Greene

      Here you go: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/uprooting-the-leading-causes-of-death/, around 25:40.

      How did I find it? I clicked on “Browse All Topics” to see the topic cloud, clicked on “potassium,” and there are only two videos that show up in the results. I was pretty sure it was the more recent of the two. I hope that helps?

  • LKSkinner

    For some it’s entomophobia or even “social pollution”, for me it’s keeping kosher. Insects are right up there with pork and shellfish as culinary no-nos for me.
    I’ll stick to tofu, thank you very much :)

    • Dave

      As it happens, the book of Leviticus specifies certain insects as kosher [and halal.] Therefore even if this might limit the varieties of insects one might be willing to consume, keeping a kosher diet *does not* necessarily preclude entomophagy.

      • LKSkinner

         True.
        But for the most part, to spare you all the halachic discussions about Ashkenazim, Temanim, tradition and locusts, we Ashkenazim don’t eat them because we’re not necessarily sure what the “chagavim” are these days.
        As for your everyday garden-variety bug, like the bruchid beetles that can infest grains, we certainly don’t eat those.

  • http://www.facebook.com/doc.simonson David Simonson

    Eating a tarantula seems about as bad as eating a chihuahua. They both might be someone’s pet! And the eyes really creep me out. On both the dog and the arachnid! 

  • Rob

    Im hoping this vid is just a joke-of some kind. as I cant see why MG would be promoting bug meat consumption; well,he is funnier live and I think should stick to that format.

    • http://www.facebook.com/diane.krstulovich Diane Krstulovich

      but we love him

  • http://www.facebook.com/diane.krstulovich Diane Krstulovich

    Too cute. Thanks – I’ve always wondered about that cuz’ some people really believe it’s ‘the next frontere’ (after we kill off all the animals?) What some people won’t do for RealityTV!

  • http://www.facebook.com/bovey.wiand Bovey Wiand

    the article said “safe insects” I would assume non toxic ones. Or perhaps treat then like the fugu

  • http://www.facebook.com/diane.krstulovich Diane Krstulovich

    always wondered about this – never enough to try it tho – I heard crickets were popular – thanks for relieving my curiousity

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