First scientific journal focuses on insects as food and feed

Historically, insects have been eaten by people from many different cultures as part of their normal diet. This tradition has actively continued in several continents. In the western world eating insects is not commonly accepted. With the current world population growth rate, western people may have to get used to insects as protein source. The use of a diverse range of edible insects would be a step to alleviate the potential shortage of meat as protein source.

The ‘Journal of Insects as Food and Feed‘ is the first scientific journal with a multidisciplinary approach on the use of insects as feed and food ingredient. The ‘Journal of Insects as Food and Feed’ will cover edible insects from harvesting in the wild through to industrial scale. At the end of the edible insect food or feed chain, marketing issues, consumer acceptance, regulation and legislation pose new research challenges. Microbial safety, toxicity due to chemical contaminants, and allergies are important issues in safety of insects as food and feed.

The editor of this new journal is Dr. Alan Louey Yen, an entomologist based at Agribio at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia. He holds a joint appointment as Research Leader in Invertebrate Sciences in the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries and Associate Professor in the School of Applied Systems Biology. Alan began working on the insect foods of Australian Aborigines when undertaking invertebrate surveys in Central Australia. This expanded into insects as food and feed with an emphasis on sustainable harvesting of insects from the wild. He received an Australian Government Endeavour Executive Award in 2011 to work on edible insects based at the UN FAO Asia and Pacific headquarters in Bangkok, and he studied edible insects in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

The first volume of the journal will be published in 2015. It will contain articles derived from the joint FAO/WUR conference ‘Insects to feed the world’. Innovative contributions that address the multitude of aspects relevant for the utilisation of insects in increasing food and feed quality, safety and security are welcomed.