Industrial companies such as Ynsect (Paris, France) produce tons of mealworm biomass per week and have become leaders in the large-scale farming of this insect. Mealworms are not only suitable as animal feed but they are also considered ideal for human nutrition and have even been recommended as a bioregenerative life support system for space missions. The larvae of this species (known as mealworms) are often used as pet food, and they offer a promising alternative protein-rich animal feed. In this review, we focus on the yellow mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor. These species show diverse nutritional profiles but insects are generally considered as good alternative protein sources for humans, livestock and aquaculture, which can be produced in an environmentally sustainable manner, although several potential safety issues have been raised, ,, ,. More than 2000 edible insect species are known worldwide, but only a few are produced commercially. Edible insects are therefore gaining attention among the research community: in 2007, the search term “edible insects” recovered 12 publications listed in PubMed, but this had increased to more than 40 publications in 2016. Furthermore, large amounts of food and nonprofitable side streams from industrial processes are currently wasted, but this could be used as feed for insects, which can convert diverse waste streams into protein. Alternatives are therefore required to reduce the EU’s economic dependence on imports. Current feed protein sources such as soybean and fishmeal are imported into the European Union (EU) and the cost is expected to increase.
Reducing meat-based diets will be beneficial for environmental, health and economic factors.
Alternative food and feed sources are needed for the continually growing world population, particularly the increasing demand for protein-rich food and livestock feed.
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