‘Yuck factor’: eating insects rather than meat to help the planet is failing, study finds | Insects

Recent efforts to encourage people to eat insects are doomed to failure due to public disgust from the public to the idea, which makes insects unlikely will help people pass from the ruinous habit of the meat consumption environment, a new study revealed.

Agriculture and consumption of insects have been presented in recent years as a greener alternative to the consumption of traditional meat due to the heavy environmental toll of the elevation of cattle, which is a main driver of deforestation, responsible for more than half of world water pollution, and can cause more than a third of all greenhouse gases which can be authorized if the world should avoid the change of disastrous climate Research.

Despite this, the much lighter planetary cost of breeding and consumption of insects such as crickets, grasshoppers and ants cannot be realized because people, especially in Western countries, remain pushed back to the idea of ​​eating them, the researchers noted.

Public polls in the United States and Europe have found that, even if 91% of respondents would be willing to try “alternative meats” plant-based, only about 20% would consider eating insects.

In addition to a cultural factor of “yuck”, there are also economic barriers, the document discovered, most companies – the exception being some startups of protein bars – deciding to focus on the elevation of species such as the black soldier flies for animal consumption rather than human.

“Given these challenges, it is difficult to see how insect -based foods could considerably replace traditional meat options,” said the newspaper, published in the journal Nature Journal NPJ Sustainable Agriculture.

While many people express the desire to eat foods that are raised in a lasting way, relatively little in Western countries have embraced vegetarianism and veganism. At the same time, global meat consumption is expected to increase in the coming decades as part of the growing demand for a newly rich cohort in countries like China, putting additional stress on land, navigable and climate.

“We have limited resources and we must devote them to the most promising alternatives,” said Dustin Crumettt, co-author of the study and executive director of the Institut Insect. “It turns out that breeding insects constantly mark the lowest of all meat substitutes and the real market for them is incredibly small, even in places that have a tradition of eating insects.”

Crumettt said that if certain efforts have been made to put insects in articles such as snack bars and bread, they are not transformed into products that would really dislodge meat consumption.

“Not all discussions on the consumption of insects have made a big difference. People always have a strong undesirable reaction to insects and there is no cultural history,” he said. “It is difficult to change longtime culinary traditions and deep disgust reactions.

Few governments have made significant movements to slow down meat consumption, despite its enormous impact on the environment, fearing political reactions. Denmark, however, has provided a possible model on how to proceed, revealing a plan in 2023 to reduce the supply of meat and strengthen the supply of plants based on plants.

“Plant -based foods are the future,” said Jacob Jensen, Minister of Denmark for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries at the time. “If we want to reduce climate footprint in the agricultural sector, we must all eat more plant -based foods.”

Crumettt said that the Danish plan was a good starting point to develop an alternative to simply hope that people will pass to insects.

“You have to meet people where they are,” he said. “You have to make things easy and tasty, not just moralizing and Hector.