January 5, 2015: ATB article on the potentials of insects as an alternative protein source in the Journal 'Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies' currently holds the top rank of the journals top downloads. Authors are Birgit Rumpold and Oliver Schlüter.
Edible insects are a traditional food all over the world. They are highly nutritious with high fat, protein and mineral contents depending on the species and thus represent a noteworthy alternative food and feed source and a potential substitute e. g. for fishmeal. Research is required to develop and automatize cost-effective, energy-efficient and microbially safe rearing, harvest and post harvest processing technologies. The review article, published online in December 2012, describes and discusses potentials and challenges along the production chain of insects for food and feed on basis of published data. Future research needs are derived from recent literature.
Research on edible insects as alternative protein source is currently organized in ATBs research program "Quality and safety of food and feed".