
Meat made from insects – there’s a worm in there

While many environmentalists call for a vegetarian or even vegan lifestyle, many experts see a middle way in using meat produced from insects. This has many advantages, but the inhibition threshold for many people is enormous.
Insects as food? The abstract:
Insects as food are on the rise; they are also quite nutritious and have a better ecological balance than pork or beef. Still, there are problems.
Anyone who finds a mealworm in their spices or discovers the busy colony of ants in the kitchen will rarely come up with the idea of throwing their quiet roommates into the pan and using them to cook the next meal.
Nevertheless, the idea of producing meat substitutes from insects is not new. Numerous start-ups are already on the market and are trying to bring various products to market maturity.
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Insects: There is still hope for a big breakthrough.
There is a lot to be said for eating insects.
Protein obtained from insects is the most digestible for humans; the crawlers also contain nutritious omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. They are also almost free of carbohydrates and cholesterol. In short, the term superfood would exceptionally be a correct term for insects.
Insects also clearly outperform their animal “competitors” in the ecological balance, as they cause fewer greenhouse gas emissions and their edible share is 80 percent.
For comparison: a piece of beef is only 40 percent edible.
Another advantage is that insects convert food more efficiently than mammals and birds.
There are around 2,000 species of edible insects in the world, including grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, wasps, ants and mealworms. The mealworm in particular is an insider tip for professional athletes because in dried form it has a protein content of 50.9 percent. Beef and pork, on the other hand, come to a paltry 22 percent.
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So what speaks against the immediate adoption of insects as food?
Although insects outperform other meat products in many areas, their consumption is not commonplace, especially in Western countries.
Although many people try insects out of interest or as a party gag, they don't regularly use insects as a primary source of protein. For many people, the following still applies: the eye eats too!
Although this could be circumvented through correct processing into burger patties or pies, the psychological effect of eating insects still plays a major role.
In addition, the industrial production of insects in Germany is still a legal gray area, as there are currently no requirements or guidelines regarding breeding, feeding and preparation.
Insects are usually flash frozen and then processed.
This could also make insects interesting for vegans, as according to current research they have no sense of pain and this method would correspond to their natural death in nature. However, this view is also controversial among vegans. When it comes to feeding, many experts also point out that insects used for food must also be raised with high-quality feed in order to avoid diseases or other hygienic impurities.
Still problems
This means that the crazy net idea of controlling the plague of locusts in Africa by simply catching the insects and processing them into food is no longer necessary. This would be unthinkable for health reasons alone.
The EU's so-called “Novel Food Regulation” will soon come into force, which is intended to regulate the processing of insects in more detail and thus pave the way for insect meat to the broad masses on the meat market, as large food producers could also take on the issue .
Because insects are still relatively expensive. In Austria, a kilo of grasshoppers is available for 300 euros; they are bred in Austria under controlled conditions.
In summary, the topic of insect meat is a promising topic for the future, as insects make better meat on paper, especially in terms of nutritional values, ecological balance and ethical concerns (as long as the lack of pain sensitivity covers this point).
The current lack of legal basis for the breeding, processing and food production of insect meat is proving to be problematic.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that the current consumption of mammals and poultry meat will not be ecologically and ethically acceptable for humanity in the foreseeable future, so that insects could replace them as the primary protein supplier.
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Author: Alexander Herberstein; Article image insects from nicemyphoto / Shutterstock.com
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication
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The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual articles (not fact checks) were created using machine help and
were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )
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