06-07-2025
How many insects you go need to eat to replace chicken, pork or beef?
Ova di last ten years, e get a lot of tok about how to replace meat wit edible insects.
Dem call am entomophagy wey be di practice of eating insects, either by humans or oda animals.
E fit dey unusual for some kontris, but dis nutritional option dey gain popularity.
Certain eating traditions, such as dose from Thailand, China and Mexico, don incorporate dem into dia recipes for centuries.
Helping to fight hunger
Since 2014, wen di Food and Agriculture Organization of di United Nations (FAO) publish di book "Edible insects, future prospects for food and feed security", discussion of to dey chop insect don wake again.
Various studies don contribute to di debate, wey indicate say insect farming get a lower environmental impact dan di production of cow, pig and chicken meat.
For example, for 1 kilo of edible chicken meat, 4.5 kilos of CO₂ equivalent dey emitted (dis na measure wey dem dey use to compare di emissions of several greenhouse gases, wey go convert dem to dia carbon dioxide equivalent), while 1 kilo of edible mealworm generates 2.8 kilos of CO₂ equivalent.
Added to dis na di low water consumption and land use.
Wit regard to di use of land, 1 kilo of chicken meat use 12.48 square meters of soil, compared to di 3.07 square meters needed to produce 1 kilo of darkling beetle.
Using data from 2021, e dey estimated say a healthy diet cost 3.66 US dollars (around 2,100 CFA francs) per person per day wey mean say 42.2% of di world population fit no get access to am.
For dis context, di consumption of edible insects fit become a solution and reduce hunger through self-consumption systems wia infrastructure and production costs dey easier to cover.
Howeva, to dey use insects as an ingredient remain a challenge for many crops.
High protein content
Worldwide, dem dey chop around 2,250 species of insects and spiders including beetles, butterflies, wasps and bees.
For Europe, legislation allow di production of four species for human consumption: mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor), migratory grasshopper (Locusta migratoria), house cricket (Acheta domesticus) and dung beetle larvae (Alphitobius diaperinus), wey contain 53.2%, 56.8%, 62.6% and 50.79% protein by dry weight respectively.
Sake of comparison, di protein content of beef, pork and chicken na 24.1%, 22.2% and 21% respectively.
So how many insects you go need to replace meat? Although e no dey not easy to calculate, make we use simple terms explain am.
Di Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) suggest 0.83 grams of protein per kilo of body weight per day. In oda words, a 70-kg pesin go need to consume 58.1 grams of protein per day.
If we do di math, a pesin wey get a body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9 and weighing 70 kilos go need to eat 277 grams of beef against 93 grams of dried cricket, if na dia only sources of protein.
Anoda example na for a pesin wey weigh 80 kilos, di recommended daily intake go be 276 grams of chicken versus 131 grams of dried lobster.
If oda protein sources dey available, such as milk, eggs, fish and legumes, to dey chop insect go need adjustment.
And here, e dey needed to rememba di need to combine various food groups (fruit, vegetables, cereals, fish, etc.) and nutrients (healthy fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, etc.) to achieve healthy diet.
Healthy and sustainable food
To conclude, to meet protein needs requires less food if we get am from insects.
Micro-farming get environmental benefits and lower investment compared to industrial farming.
E dey important to point out say animal exploitation dey higher for di case of insects (from 70% to 100%), compared to fish (65%), chicken and pork (55%), and cattle (between 40% and 50%).
In addition, insects contain about 60% monounsaturated fatty acids, wey make am cardio-healthy eating option.
If we focus on di sensory aspect, e dey possible to combine di flavors wit many well-known and accepted Western ingredients, such as pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, chicken, shrimp powder, caviar, and avocado, among odas.
Foods wit edible insects not only provide a sense of belonging to dose wey dey eat am in di traditional way, dem also get di capacity to provide a unique eating experience and a nutritious one.
* Edgar Pulido Chávez is a research professor for di Center for Agriculture, Food and Climate Crisis Studies, University of Guadalajara; Alejandro Corona Mariscal na doctoral student for di Polytechnic University of València.
