Socio-Economic Factors of the Edible Insects' Market Development

INTRODUCTION

Every year the world's population increases by 70 million people. Already, many people are suffering from malnutrition: according to FAO estimates, in 2017, the number of hungry people was 821 million [1]. The shortage of fats and complex carbohydrates is felt in a number of countries. However, the most acute issue is protein starvation. Approximately half of the 7 billion people currently living on Earth suffer from a lack of dietary protein. Its total deficit on the planet is now estimated at 10-25 million tons per year [2].

Currently, about 70% of all agricultural land is used for breeding domestic animals (as a traditional source of protein), and 30% of the entire land is occupied for cattle breeding. At the same time, a third of these land resources account for the cultivation of feed for livestock itself [3]. It is also impossible to ignore the fact that meat production has a serious negative impact on the environment: CO₂ emissions from cattle alone amount to 7.1 gigatons per year. Accordingly, the growth in traditional meat production will exacerbate this problem. In this situation, humanity is forced to look for other types of food and, above all, protein [4, 5].

Over the past 15 years, even a separate term has been formed in the field of alternative sources of raw materials — "neoprotein products." They are created on the basis of vegetable protein and microorganisms. Already, such products are widely represented on the Asian market in the form of tofu, seitan, soy meat, as well as lean products based on lupin. In addition, there are drinks based on vegetable protein — soy, nut, oat milk, etc. Alternative protein refers to three types of products: cultured (artificial) meat, vegetable meat, and insects [6-8].

Insects are already a traditional part of many regional and national diets. About 2 billion inhabitants of Asia and Africa currently eat about 1.9 thousand species of edible insects. Most edible species live in China, Thailand, India, and Mexico. Figure 1 shows the most consumed insects in the world. Insects have a high protein content (40-75 g per 100 g of dry weight), which is very well absorbed (77-98%) [9].

Insects contain high levels of protein, and fats are quite high in calories. In addition to their nutritional value, they also represent an effective way of disposing of biomass of food waste, updating it to valuable feed ingredients that become full-fledged food along the technological chain [10].

It should be noted that in the European Union, since 2017, it has been allowed to use insects as fish food. These are proteins derived from some insects: American soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio Molitor), lesser mealworm beetle (Alphitobius diaperinus), tropical house cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus), Jamaican field cricket (Gryllus assimilis), etc. Yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio Molitor) is one of the most promising insects for human consumption and is already used for forage. However, to date, the use of insect proteins for any other animal species other than fish is not allowed in the EU.

Insects as a feed ingredient have great potential for several reasons: high content of nutrients – proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals; comparative simplicity of their fattening; low requirement for their maintenance space; naturalness of feeding birds and fish with insects. Futurologists specializing in the future of food are confident that the traditional chicken, pork, and beef will soon be replaced by insects, from which organoleptically flawless sausages, sausages, and hamburgers will be made. The idea they promote in the media is that eating insects is a real way to fight global hunger [11, 12].

Nutritional value of insect biomass

Insect protein has a full-fledged amino acid composition, and the proportion of essential amino acids in it is quite large. So, in 1 kg of dry matter, raw materials from the larva of the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio Molitor) contain 24.7 g of isoleucine, 52.2 g of leucine, 26.8 g of lysine, 6.3 g of methionine. Figure 2 shows the protein content in some insects relative to other foods.

Nutritional parameters depend not only on the type of insect but also on the substrate on which it is cultivated. Thus, from houseflies grown on chicken manure, a feed product that was not inferior in nutritional properties to analogs produced using husk grains mixed with yeast was obtained. The nutritional value of feed raw materials from the mealworm beetle larva increased with the use of a substrate with the addition of yeast [13, 14].

In addition to protein, the insect body contains fats, including in the form of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Their level varies between 11-36%. For example, in the mealworm beetle larva, the fat concentration reaches 35.2%, with omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids accounting for 91.2 and 3.3%, respectively. Insects are a natural source of fiber. It is represented by chitin (2.7–49.8 mg/kg in live insects and 11.6–137.2 mg/kg in dry matter). Chitin has been found to have an antiparasitic effect. Feeding it to pets and poultry has a beneficial effect on their immune system. In addition, the insect body contains copper, zinc, calcium (it is most in the larvae of American soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), phosphorus, potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium, vitamins A and B (riboflavin (B2), calcium pantothenate (B5), biotin (B7) and folic acid (B9). Some insect species (mealworm beetle, American soldier fly, etc.) and their larvae contain a significant proportion of antimicrobial peptides, particularly defensin. Like prebiotics, antimicrobial peptides normalize the composition of the intestinal microbiota by blocking the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms and stimulating the growth of the native (own) microflora of the host organism. Therefore, antimicrobial peptides can be considered an alternative to antibiotics. The antibacterial effect is most pronounced when growing larvae on an organic substrate, including cow manure or guano (decomposed remains of seabird and bat droppings) [15-17].

The use of insects by the inhabitants of some countries of the world

Insect-based foods certainly demonstrate the potential of being used as alternative sources of protein in the human diet. For example, insects have been consumed in China for more than 2 thousand years. In general, the acceptance rate for insect consumption in China is very high. Over the past 20 years, many studies of edible insects have been conducted, the scope of which included, among others: entomophagy culture and insect identification, nutritional value, agriculture and breeding of edible insects, as well as food production and safety. Currently, 324 species of insects have been documented that are either edible or are associated with entomophagy in China or medicinal. The nutritional value of 174 species available in China, including edible, forage, and medicinal species, has been studied. Edible insects have been directly consumed and continue to be consumed by various ethnic groups in many parts of China. Also, people indirectly consume insects by eating livestock-fed insects. However, even in China, data on the food safety of insects are limited, cases of allergic reactions have been reported after eating silkworm pupae, cicadas, and crickets. At the same time, insect breeding is a unique industry in rural China and serves as a source of income for the local population. Insects are raised and bred for human food, medicine, and animal feed using two approaches: they are either entirely domesticated and raised entirely in captivity or partially raised in captivity, and the insect habitat is specifically maintained to increase production [18].

To date, close attention is paid to edible and medicinal insects in India: consolidated lists of insects that have long been used in Northern India by local tribal societies have been prepared and carefully verified. The lists include 81 species of native insects belonging to 26 families and 5 orders of insects. Depending on the species, only individual stages or all stages of insect development are consumed. Some food insects can be included in the local diet throughout the year, others – only in a certain season. Usually, insects are prepared for consumption by roasting or boiling. Twelve species of insects are considered therapeutically valuable by residents and are used to treat various disorders in both humans and pets [9].

Currently, the task of changing the attitude of Europeans toward insects and worms is being set in Europe. It is necessary to overcome food aversion to solve the problem of using insects as food for the European population. Therefore, the team of one of the Danish nutrition laboratories is looking for ways to convince Europeans of the benefits, as well as the excellent taste qualities of grasshoppers, ants, and caterpillars, and chefs are developing attractive recipes [2].

In one of the papers, the perception of insect-based products by consumers in Germany was investigated. A nationwide online survey focused on what factors have the greatest impact on the willingness to eat a burger with insects and worms. In addition to the socio-demographic factors of meat consumption and the "classic" variables in the field of entomophagy (familiarity, previous insect consumption, food neophobia, food technology neophobia), the study focuses on the sustainability of food aversion. A total of 42% of the participants were ready to eat a hamburger with insects. At the same time, only 16% of the participants were willing to consume worms as the main ingredient of a hamburger with insects [19, 20].

Hierarchical multiple regressions have shown that food aversion is the most important predictor of the acceptance of edible insects, followed by previous insect consumption, food neophobia, gender, sensation seeking, and cooking neophobia [21]. Edible insects are presented as a new and environmentally friendly source of protein. In addition, nutritionists have found in the body of grasshoppers, silkworms, ants, and other insects a fair amount of antioxidants and other beneficial BAS [16].

Insects as food and its ingredients are not at all a distant future, as it may seem. In Russia, for example, several enterprises already grow insects for animal feed and plan to produce products for humans from them – functional nutrition, protein bars, and bread.

The economic situation in the market of edible insects

Last year, FAO estimated the market capacity of edible insects at $400 million. In 2018, 6 thousands of tons of insects were produced worldwide for human food use. Even in countries with a developed culture of consumption of such food, this is an insignificant share of the diet, not comparable to hundreds of millions of tons of grain, meat, and other traditional products. The undisputed leaders in the number of insect species used are Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia. But even in the USA, Argentina, and a number of Western European countries, there are traditions of eating insects [22, 23]. Figure 3 shows the main branches of insect consumption. Figure 4 shows the forecast of the insect market for 2023 in monetary terms.

People do not eat insects (excluding accidental ingestion of humans) in Northern and Eastern Europe, Russia and the former USSR countries, and some countries of the Middle East. Most religions prohibit the use of insects, including Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.