Over the last decade, the urgency to find alternative and sustainable protein sources has prompted an exponential increase in the interest in insects as a human food source. Edible insects contribute suitable amounts of energy and protein, fatty acids, and micronutrients to the human diet. Nutritional values of insects can be manipulated to meet specific needs. Edible insects in food-insecure countries can contribute to improving diets and preventing undernutrition. Bioactive compounds in insects may reduce health risks. Food safety risks are low and mainly relate to those of allergenicity. Strategies to overcome barriers to the consumption of insect products include emphasizing their sustainability, increasing their tastiness, and developing the ability to disguise insects in familiar products. A new sector of insects as food and feed is emerging. Major challenges include legislation, lowering prices by automation and cheap substrates, developing insect products that appeal to consumers, and exploring the health benefits. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Nutrition, Volume 41 is September 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) have a great potential to serve as a sustainable food source for humans due to their favorable nutrient profile and low environmental impact. Feed formulation and optimization are important for mealworm production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of fresh plant materials-supplemented diets on the growth performance and nutritional value of mealworms. Mealworm larvae were grown on wheat bran or wheat bran enriched with carrot, orange, or red cabbage for four weeks. Larval and pupal survival, growth rate, pupating rate, duration of pupal stage, proximate composition, reducing power, metal chelating activity, and radical scavenging activity of the mealworms were analyzed. Dietary supplementation with fresh plant materials did not result in significant changes in mealworm survival, development, proximate composition, or antioxidant activities. However, mealworm larvae fed on carrot-, orange-, and red cabbage-supplemented diets had improved growth rates, and were 40%–46% heavier in week four than those fed on wheat bran only, indicating the supplementation resulted in an increased production efficiency of mealworm larvae. Our findings may help optimize the diet formulation for mealworm mass production.

Insects are a sustainable protein source with poor consumer acceptance in developed countries. An Eating Insects Conference and Tasting Demonstration was hosted with a goal of promoting consumption of edible insects. The event consisted of an educational session that provided information about entomophagy followed by a cooking and tasting demonstration of edible insects. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were conducted to assess the effect of the event on participants’ acceptance of entomophagy. Forty-three attendees completed the surveys. After attending the event, participants felt more knowledgeable about entomophagy, which positively correlated with willingness to consume edible insects. Participants who believed that entomophagy is sustainable were more willing to consume edible insects than those who did not. Although all participants consumed insects at the tasting demonstration, those with prior consumption experiences had significantly higher post-intervention willingness scores, indicating repeated exposures may be necessary for improving consumer acceptance of edible insects. The event raised awareness of using insects as food and provided useful information for developing effective interventions to promote insect consumption.

Insect-based foods may contribute to the consumption of more sustainable diets. Acceptance strategies for children are necessary to integrate insect-based foods into normal diets and lead to significant protein replacement. This study aimed to: (1) pilot the evaluation of insect-based foods in an online classroom; and (2) investigate the effects of exposing school children to educational and tasting interventions on the perception of edible insects and insectbased foods using in-person classrooms. The online classroom (n=220) used a simple intervention design where the perception of insect-based flatbreads and dhal-inspired dish were measured after exposure to the information session and tasting. The in-person classroom intervention (n=65) was composed of a lesson, food tasting, and a question-and-answer session with designated questionnaires. The online classroom response rate decreased as the number of tasks increased during the tasting or cooking sessions. Children participating in the in-person classroom session reported positive post-intervention correlations between agreeing society needing sustainable foods and willingness to consume insects. Awareness initiatives for insect-based foods for regular consumption should advance as opinions and knowledge about sustainability change.

Background Plant- and insect-based foods are promising alternative protein sources. Previous studies have shown that introducing plant-based foods to the diet can reduce meat intake, but no such intervention has explored the effects of insect-based foods. Methods This study aims to integrate alternative proteins to main meals of 80 Danish families through a 6-week two-arm randomized intervention trial to investigate acceptance, consumption, and potential for meat replacement. The primary outcome is the replacement of dietary meat protein with plant- or insect-based protein from the intervention foods assessed through change in daily meat protein intake, proportion of meat protein to total protein intake, and counts of dinner meals with meat and intervention products. Conclusion The results of this study will contribute to research in alternative proteins and explore the effects of long-term exposure of meat replacement. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05156853. Registered 24 December 2021