For the podcast this week, we discuss the quality of insect based protein and whether or not they can be a sustainable protein source for our growing population.
Increased access to dietary protein is a problem that needs fixing. Chronic inadequate protein intake and protein energy malnutrition currently affects 1 billion people worldwide.
So we already have a hard time feeding the people we currently have on this planet, what are we going to do in 2050 when the population is suspected to be around 9.6 billion?
One answer in my opinion is to tackle our food waste problem. Nearly half of the food grown in this country isn’t eaten. There are many reasons for this, but there has to be a way to make the food grown more available for the people who need it.
Another solution would be to increase the output and efficiency of our animal based agriculture. America is very good at using every part of a cow. From leather for cars to ribeyes for dinner. However, we need to put more cows on more grasslands if we’re going to keep up with the increasing demand for meat.
Even if both of these problems are solved, having another source of dietary protein would be ideal. Insects can serve this role.
Compared to other animal based protein sources, the majority of insects are of lesser quality. However, there are a few species that offer good high quality amino acid profiles. If we focus our attention on these species and construct ecological friendly farming systems, we can mass produce these insects, and they can become another source of dietary protein for the entire planet.
To learn more about insect protein and their quality, listen to this week’s podcast.
Links To Articles Mentioned
Extraction and characterisation of protein fractions from five insect species
