Bugs are food of the future: UN

ALL content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/bugs-are-food-of-the-future-un-agency/673484.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Beetles, caterpillars and wasps could supplement diets around the world as an environmentally friendly food source if only Western consumers could get over their "disgust", the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Monday.

"The main message is really: 'Eat insects'", Eva Mueller, director of forest economics at the FAO, told a press conference in Rome.

"Insects are abundant and they are a valuable source of protein and minerals," she said.

"Two billion people -- a third of the world's population -- are already eating insects because they are delicious and nutritious," she said.

The report said insect farming was "one of the many ways to address food and feed insecurity".

"Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," said the report, co-authored by the FAO and Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

The report also said the insects most commonly consumed by humans are beetles (31 percent), caterpillars (18 percent) and bees, wasps and ants (14 percent), followed by grasshoppers, locusts and crickets (13 percent).