The rearing of cattle and pigs for meat production results in an estimated 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. With worldwide consumption of beef and pork expected to double by 2020, alternatives are being investigated. Of these, perhaps the most notable has been the development of “in-vitro meat” which is lab-grown tissue not requiring the production of a whole organism. Initiated by NASA as a form of astronaut food, in-vitro meat production took its first steps in 2000 when scientists used goldfish cells to grow edible protein resembling fish fillets. Since then, turkey and pig cells have been used to create spam-like substances, and Time Magazine has included in-vitro meat in its list of the top 50 breakthrough ideas of 2009.
Here’s the fixins:
Five insect species were studied: fifth larval stage mealworms Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), fifth and sixth nymphal stage house crickets Acheta domesticus (L.) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), third and fourth stage nymphs of migratory locusts Locusta migratoria (L.) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), third larval stage sun beetles Pachnoda marginata Drury (Coleoptera; Scarabaeidae) and a mix of all stages of the Argentinean cockroach Blaptica dubia (Serville) (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae). Currently, T. molitor, A. domesticus and L. migratoria are considered edible, while P. marginata and B. dubia are not. The latter two species were included since they are a potential source of animal protein, for instance by means of protein extraction. These two species can be bred in large numbers with little time investment and are able to utilise a wide range of substrates as feed
Here’s the paper:
Oonincx DGAB, van Itterbeeck J, Heetkamp MJW, van den Brand H, van Loon JJA, et al. (2010) An Exploration on Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Production by Insect Species Suitable for Animal or Human Consumption. PLoS ONE 5(12): e14445. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014445
Abstract
Background
Greenhouse gas (GHG) production, as a cause of climate change, is considered as one of the biggest problems society is currently facing. The livestock sector is one of the large contributors of anthropogenic GHG emissions. Also, large amounts of ammonia (NH3), leading to soil nitrification and acidification, are produced by livestock. Therefore other sources of animal protein, like edible insects, are currently being considered.
Methodology/Principal Findings
An experiment was conducted to quantify production of carbon dioxide (CO2) and average daily gain (ADG) as a measure of feed conversion efficiency, and to quantify the production of the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) as well as NH3 by five insect species of which the first three are considered edible: Tenebrio molitor, Acheta domesticus, Locusta migratoria, Pachnoda marginata, and Blaptica dubia. Large differences were found among the species regarding their production of CO2 and GHGs. The insects in this study had a higher relative growth rate and emitted comparable or lower amounts of GHG than described in literature for pigs and much lower amounts of GHG than cattle. The same was true for CO2 production per kg of metabolic weight and per kg of mass gain. Furthermore, also the production of NH3 by insects was lower than for conventional livestock.
Conclusions/Significance
This study therefore indicates that insects could serve as a more environmentally friendly alternative for the production of animal protein with respect to GHG and NH3 emissions. The results of this study can be used as basic information to compare the production of insects with conventional livestock by means of a life cycle analysis.
=======================================================
No mention if the authors chow down on locusts at lunchtime. My advice: you first.
Of course, if this becomes widely acceptable, I’ll gladly send Al Gore a box of hornets and some ketchup. It’s the least I can do.
If it’s OK to make bio-fuels because “they have a neutral net contribution to CO2” then how do cows have a different effect?
WUWT?
I would eventually consider being a veggie if this would become widespread… 🙁
Ecotretas
These disgusting Satanists like to play games of making us do unacceptable things. Lying to make the unacceptable appear acceptable. It’s a game to them.
I wonder how much greenhouse gases were produced by the vast herds of buffalo, antelope and other ruminant animals which roamed the world before being decimated by man.
And what’s to become of the billions of farm animals after we stop eating them? Are they going to be kept as pets? Or are they going to be simply released into the wild?
Of course not, they would still be producing planet-killing gases, so they would have to be killed off and rendered extinct.
“nitrification of the soil” — makes it sound like a pollutant. And here I was, in all innocence, thinking it was plant FERTILIZER! Like CO2. And ammonium nitrate.
Disney’s The Lion King animated movie taught us all, especially the little children, that a top-of-the-food-chain carnivore can survive just fine by eating grubs, bugs, and worms. Just look at how little Simba grew up so big and strong on that diet. Thus it is blatantly obvious to all, especially the little children, that such meat sources would be just fine for humans as well.
Very educational movie, I can fully understand why so many parents so willingly exposed their kids to its messages. Heck, previously I would have thought a true “Lion King” would devour the warthog for supper and munch on the meerkat for a snack. Who knew Wild Kingdom had it all wrong?
Funny stuff. The FDA allows a certain number of insect parts to be sold in foods that don’t list insects on the label. It’s practically unavoidable especially will bulk-milled grains. The average American eats 1-2 pounds of bugs per year this way by some estimates. So it’s really not a matter of eating bugs because we all do it’s a matter of eating them on purpose.
I love me some other arthropods like lobster, shrimp, crab, and crawdads. I’m sure some of their six-legged cousins probably taste pretty good too.
As one other commenter mentioned eating insects (or not) is a psychological phenomenon not a matter of edibility or nutritiousness.
Billions of insects in containers all breeding and evolving in unnatural environments. I think something screwy could happen.
Remember a Sci-Fi story around 60 years ago of an in-vitro chicken meat mass being the accepted form of protein, constantly growing, constantly harvested. Haven’t had a nightmare about it recently though 8<.
I’d love to see all the greenies go and live in caves, using glow worms for light and chowing down on grubs.
For what it is worth , I remember reading a piece maybe as long ago as 30 years back , in the science column of a one of the then most widely distributed three weekly news magazines ( Time , Newsweek , don´t remember the name of the third ) , and mind you it was before they turned into the thrash rags they are today. The piece was about people starting up some kind of worm farms , where the worms breed and meant for human consumption. The article said s that a species of some fast growing worm had been discovered , that could be feed on low grade animal feeds, whenn they had been grown to the optimal size , the worms were then dried out (dehydrated) and ground up, the end product beeing a 98% high grade protein powder , that could be used to boost the protein content of food made out of minced meat (hamburgers , meatballs etc) that did not else make the minimum protein content target some maker of such product ( or perhaps a government regulation stipulated ) had set for their wares in that class . And I clearly remember the article saying that so far there were yet only enough farms operating to cater to the needs of one big customer, which was a well known US ( an now global) hamburger chain which was buying all it could get of the stuff an using maybe as much as 2% of it into its hamburger meat , but there were lot of other prospective customers waiting in the line to be served , when production really got into high gear. Never saw any follow up about this or heard any more about it so maybe it was something that in the end did not pan out or came to anything but then again maybe it is just something that realy became an industry to some degree , and the food industry has been shy about talking of, and we have all been eating some kind worms every now and the for the last three decades, I do not know, just remember thinking if young small bird thrive well on a diet of worms, it can not harm us humans to have some of it our diet too. almost every type of bird I know of has been used as food source at one time or another in some place and time. And then I soon forgot all about it , until this posting here jogged my memory of the said article.
Alright next time I see a cockroach ill fry it in some butter and sage, and stamp on the chicken instead. Ahhh even just reading the abstract how do academics publish these sort of journals???
I recall Dr David Bellamy suggested worms/insects as the “right diet” for humans some years ago (70’s/80’s?). The suggestion was nothing to do with “saving the planet from human induced C02 driven climate change” at that time but more to do with food sortages and population growth, obviously connected at some point. But what I do recall was that he tucked into a worm cake….yum yum!! LOL
Humans are omnivours, we will eat anything. Mince it up, add chilli, garlic, curry powder, cook for ages, it’ll be ok I am sure. Given a choice, which seems to be being erroded daily, I’d take beef, lamb, goat (Goat is great BTW – Almost zero fat), pork and fish as well as the usual veggies and pulses. I’ll pass on the insects and aracnids (I don’t already eat – look at cheese).
i guess they forgot the tasty termites! OOPS, I just recalled I ran the numbers on them based upon some study report of the time. seems that the scale (size) of the critter actually mattered here. Big critters have far lower metabolic rates than small critters. Does a cow eat its own weight every day? LOL. Seems that the conversion factor is 4 pounds of feed per 1 pound of meat for grass. Note it’s believed that there’s about a ton of termites per person and they are busy creating ghgs at far higher metabolic rates, perhaps produce more ghgs than people with their technology included.
An athlete can need anything between 3-5000 calories a day, depending on how much they train.
A hard working, full grown man (like a carpenter or such) needs about 3-3500 calories a day to function.
Any man, with a less energy demanding profession, needs about 2500 calories a day. A female about 2000…
Let’s say that on an average we people need somewhere around 2500 calories a day.
How many bugs a day will 5 billion people need?
A kilo of animal protein is a kilo of animal protein no matter whether it formed around a backbone or not. And you need a hell of a lot more insects than cows to get a kilo of protein.
It is hard to see how producing insects on an industrial scale sufficient to provide enough protein to replace that from animals with backbones, is at all practical and a saving in resources.
As with the vegetarian option these folks do not have joined-up thinking so have no appreciation of all the ancillary resources required, particularly: nutrition, watering, processing, storage, wastage, spoilage and transport.
It seems obvious that had insects or a vegetarian diet provided an evolutionary viable nutritional alternatives to Man’s natural diet, then we would all be growing and eating, apples with worms in them.
In order to protect the new found food chain all bugs are to be protected and use of insecticides prohibited.
From next month all NY Hotel restaurants will be closed and the hotel guests will be confined to eat the bed bugs.
In a sustainable society all resources will be used.
Bugs will be an integral part of a sustainable food chain.
Bon appetit.
I actually think this would be very effective at reducing CO2 emissions. Once I am forced to live on soy extracts, seaweed and insects I will officially lose the will to continue breathing.
From experience (I could justify it by pretending I was stranded somewhere without food, but that would be disingenuous), woodlice (probably called somethibng else in the States) taste very much like freshwater shrimp, although they’re generaly somewhat smaller.
Also, common garden snails are very tasty, but I’d recommend catching (collecting?) then 2 or 3 days in advance and keeping them in a ventilated box with some fresh lettuce (or similar) to give toxins from their normal diet time to work their way out. I’d assume slugs to taste very similar (but you couldn’t serve them in their shells).
“No mention if the authors chow down on locusts at lunchtime. My advice: you first.”
Actually locusts aren’t that bad… crunchy… nothing special… I’d not eat them everyday or even more than once to try it… but millions of people do eat them and they are a source of protein… to eat them because of the CO2 fears is beyond crazy.
What? No gravy?
You could easily grow your own food supply.
Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I think I’ll eat some worms. 😉
Patrik says:
How many bugs a day will 5 billion people need?
No Patrik, its 6.9 billion already, and that is the real, but unspoken, issue.
Fish and birds eat bigs.
People eat fish and birds.
Do they want to starve the fish and birds ?
I am not eating any bugs.
And if you make me think about the inadvertently eaten bugs I may not eat at all.