Insects raised for food and feed — global scale, practices, and policy

Abstract

This research covers the scale of insect farming globally, including the number of insects farmed in different regions, sold live or slaughtered, or killed during the production process and not otherwise sold. I break down these overall numbers into estimates by region and broad taxonomic group. I include estimates, by species and region, of the number of days on farms that insects experience. I also review the regulations governing insect farming, the practices found on insect farms, welfare concerns we might have for insects on farms, and potential promising interventions for insect advocates. This research specifically covers insects whose bodies are eaten in whole or powdered form for food and animal feed. It does not review insects farmed for a food product they produce (such as honey bees), nor does it include insects who have a food additive produced with a minor derivative of their bodies (such as cochineals). This research also does not cover wild insects collected for food or animal feed. Finally, this research does not cover annelids raised for fishing bait, though some of the insects sold live described in this report are likely used for fishing bait. This research does not touch on insect sentience or moral status. Generally, I am working under the assumption that all the insects mentioned are sentient in a morally relevant way, though since this paper focuses only on scale, the question of insect sentience and its moral relevance does not play a further role outside motivating the research. For further research into these questions, see Rethink Priorities’ research into invertebrate welfare, and in particular, the analysis of fruit flies and ants, since they are insects currently impacted by farming.