Insect proteins — a new source for animal feed

M ore 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. . .” ......................................................