North American entomophagy

Eating insects is not a common Northern American practice today. However, in the past a variety of insect species was consumed in Northern America (north of Mexico including Greenland). The aim of this literature review is to provide an historical overview of North American entomophagy based upon both peer and non-peer reviewed sources on this topic. Regional differences in insect consumption and reasons for being underreported are discussed. We show that North American natives, and in certain cases colonists, collected and consumed a large variety of edible insects. These are categorized per order and where available, information on how these species were collected and processed is provided. Lastly, we mention reasons for the renewed interest in edible insects in North America, and make suggestions for future studies

Environmental impact of mealworms compared to other animal products.

<p>Energy use due to the production of one kg of edible protein. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051145#s3" target="_blank">Results</a> from this study depicted in green. Minimum (blue) and maximum (red) literature data is adapted from de Vries & de Boer (2010).</p

Dietary enrichment of edible insects with omega 3 fatty acids

International audienceEdible insects are advocated as sustainable and healthy food and feed. However, commercially produced insects are often low in n-3 fatty acids and have suboptimal n-6/n-3 ratios. A certain amount and proportion of these FAs is required to optimize human health. Flaxseed oil consists primarily (57%) out of alpha-linolenic acid. An experiment was conducted to quantify the effect of flaxseed oil provision on fatty acid composition and to determine the quantity needed to attain a beneficial n-6/n-3 ratio. Three species were used in the experiment: house crickets (Acheta domesticus [L.]), lesser mealworms (Alphitobius diaperinus [Pfanzer]) and black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens [L.]). These were provided with either a control diet or a diet enriched with 1%, 2%, or 4% flaxseed oil during their larval/nymphal stage. Fatty acid profiles of diets and insects were determined via GC-MS. The three species had distinct fatty acid profiles on all four diets, but responded similarly to flaxseed oil addition. For each percent added to the diet, the alpha-linolenic acid content of the insects increased by 2.3%-2.7%. Four percent addition increased the n-3 fatty acid content 10-20 fold in the three species and thereby strongly decreased n-6/n-3 ratios from 18-36 to 0.8-2.4. A ratio below 5 is considered optimal for human health and was achieved by 2% flaxseed oil inclusion for house crickets and lesser mealworms, and at 1% inclusion for black soldier flies. Adding a source of n-3 fatty acids to insect diets can thus improve the nutritional quality of insects

Resource use per year and environmental impact.

<p>Global warming potential (GWP), energy use (EU) and land use (LU) are expressed per unit of input based on economic allocation.</p

The mealworm production system.

<p>Flows entering the company are on the left, centrally the production steps are shown and flows exiting the system are on the right. For flow quantities see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051145#pone-0051145-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p

Environmental impact of inputs in a mealworm production system.

<p>Absolute and relative contribution global warming potential (GWP), energy use (EU) and land use (LU) for the production of one kg of fresh mealworms based on economic allocation.</p

Environmental impact of mealworms compared to other animal products.

<p>Land use due to the production of one kg of edible protein. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051145#s3" target="_blank">Results</a> from this study depicted in green. Minimum (blue) and maximum (red) literature data is adapted from de Vries & de Boer (2010).</p

Average fatty acid composition of Argentinean cockroach, Black soldier fly, Yellow mealworm and House cricket reared on four experimental diets and their respective control diets.

<p>Average fatty acid composition of Argentinean cockroach, Black soldier fly, Yellow mealworm and House cricket reared on four experimental diets and their respective control diets.</p

Total fatty acid and crude protein content as a percentage of dry matter of Argentinean cockroaches (A), Black soldier flies (B), Yellow mealworms without carrot (C), Yellow mealworms with carrot (D) and House crickets (E) reared on experimental (HPHF = high protein, high fat; HPLF = high protein, low fat; LPHF = low protein, high fat; LPLF = low protein, low fat), or control diets.

<p>Total fatty acid and crude protein content as a percentage of dry matter of Argentinean cockroaches (A), Black soldier flies (B), Yellow mealworms without carrot (C), Yellow mealworms with carrot (D) and House crickets (E) reared on experimental (HPHF = high protein, high fat; HPLF = high protein, low fat; LPHF = low protein, high fat; LPLF = low protein, low fat), or control diets.</p