Entomophagy
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225201885
2008-07-12T12:52:10Z
Groyolo
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Little clarification to more accurately reflect http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html .
'''Entomophagy''' is the practice of eating [[insect]]s as food. Entomophagy is seen in a large number of taxonomic groups including insects (that eat other insects), birds and mammals.
The term is also used to describe human insect-eating that is common in some cultures in parts of the world including [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]], [[Africa]], [[Asia]] and [[Australia]], but uncommon and even taboo in some societies.
[[Image:Insect food stall.JPG|thumb|360px|Deep fried insects sold at food stall for human consumption in [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]].]]
==Non-human consumption of insects==
Many insects are [[Entomophagous Parasite|entomophagous]] and these are usually classified into [[predators]] and [[parasitoids]], while some are [[cannibalism|cannibalistic]]. Nematodes that live within insects (parasites) are also termed entomophagous. Some bacteria and fungi are also known to growing on or inside insects and these usually cause the death of their hosts. These too are sometimes termed entomophagous, although the term entomopathogen is more appropriate. (See also [[Entomopathogenic fungi]])
==History of human entomophagy==
Before humans had tools to [[hunt]] or practice [[agriculture]], insects must have represented an important part of their diet. Evidence of this has been found by analyzing [[coprolites]] from caves in USA and Mexico. Coprolites in caves in the [[The Ozarks|Ozark Mountains]] were found to contain [[ant]]s, [[beetle]] [[larvae]], [[lice]], [[ticks]] and [[mites]].<ref name=EofE>{{cite book |last=Capinera | first=John L. | title=Encyclopedia of Entomology | publisher= [[Kluwer Academic Publishers]] | year=2004 | id=ISBN 0-7923-8670-1}}</ref> This is not unexpected, as most apes are, to a greater or lesser extent, insectivorous. Chimpanzees, for example, derive the vast majority of their energy from eating termites and ants.<ref name=tutin>{{cite conference | first = Caroline | last = Tutin | coauthors = et al. | title = Foraging profiles of sympatric lowland gorillas and chimpanzees in the Lopé Reserve, Gabon. | booktitle = Foraging Strategies and Natural Diet of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans: Proceedings of a Royal Society Discussion Meeting held on 30 and 31 May, 1991. | pages = 20-21 | publisher = Whiten A. and Widdowson E.M. | date = 1992 | location = Oxford, England }}</ref><ref name=mcgrew>{{cite book | last = McGrew | first = W.C. | title = Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution. | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 1992 | pages = 153-154 | isbn = 0521423716 }}</ref><ref name=goodall>{{cite book | last = Goodall | first = Jane | authorlink = Jane Goodall | title = The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. | publisher = The Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. | date = 1986 | pages = 248 | isbn = 0674116496 }}</ref>
[[Cave paintings]] in [[Altamira]], north [[Spain]], dated to about 9,000 to 30,000 [[BCE]], depict the collection of wild [[bee]] nests. At the time people must have eaten bee [[pupae]] and [[larvae]] with the [[honey]]. Cocoons of wild silkworm (''Theophilia religiosae'') were found in ruins in the [[Shanxi]] province of [[China]], dating from 2,000 to 2,500 years B.C. The cocoons had large holes in them, suggesting the pupae were eaten.<ref name=EofE/> Many ancient entomophagy practices have been passed down to the present, forming traditional entomophagy.<ref name=EofE/>
===Present-day===
[[Image:ant_pop.jpg|thumb|200px|Lollipop with ants.]]
Entomophagy can be divided into two categories: insects used as nutrients source and others as [[condiments]]. Some insects are eaten as larvae, others as adults. Over 1200 species of insects are used as food by people throughout the world. Commonly eaten insects and arachnids include [[grasshopper]]s, [[Cricket (insect)|crickets]], [[termite]]s, [[ant]]s, [[beetle]] [[larva]]e (grubs), [[moth]] [[caterpillar]]s and [[pupa]]e, [[spider]]s, [[tarantula]]s, and [[scorpion]]s.
===Specific cases===
The consumption of ''Hormiga culona'' (literally "fatass ant") ''[[Atta laevigata]]'' is traditional in some regions of [[Colombia]]. In some places the commercial exploitation of food insects has led to their decline.<ref>{{Cite journal |quotes=no |author=Julieta Ramos-Elorduy |year=2006 |title=Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico and some measures to preserve them |journal=[[Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine]] |volume=2 |pages=51 |url=http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/2/1/51 |doi=10.1186/1746-4269-2-51}}</ref>
In southern Africa, a species of moth called ''[[Gonimbrasia belina]]'' is found throughout much of the region; its large caterpillar, the ''mopani'' or ''[[mopane worm]]'', is an important source of food [[protein]].
===Entomophagy in popular culture===
[[Barrington Hall]], a [[University Students' Cooperative Association|student co-op]] at [[U.C. Berkeley]] known for its [[anarchist]] tendencies, had a yearly insect banquet for many years until the co-op was closed down in 1990 because of the rowdy behavior of its residents. Entomophagy is also featured on some [[reality TV]] shows for its shock value.<br /><br />
The [[Explorer's Club]] holds an annual dinner at New York's [[Waldorf-Astoria Hotel]] featuring a wide array of unusual dishes including many featuring insects.
==Advantages==
Insects generally have a higher food conversion efficiency than more traditional meats. For example, studies concerning the house cricket (''[[Acheta domesticus]]''), when reared at 30°C or more and fed a diet of equal quality to the diet used to rear conventional livestock, show a food conversion twice as efficient as pigs and broiler chicks, four times that of sheep, and six times higher than [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steer steers] when losses in carcass trim and dressing percentage are counted.<ref name=EofE/>[[Image:Chapulines.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mexican ''[[chapulines]]'']]
Further, insects reproduce at a faster rate than beef animals. A female cricket can lay from 1,200 to 1,500 in 3 to 4 weeks, while for beef the ratio is four breeding animals for each market animal produced, thus giving house crickets a true food conversion efficiency almost 20 times higher than beef.<ref name=EofE/> For this reason and because of the [[essential amino acid]]s content of insects, some people propose the development of entomophagy to provide a major source of [[protein]] in human [[nutrition]]. Protein production for human consumption would be more effective and consume fewer resources than animal protein. This makes insect meat more ecological than vertebrate meat.
==Disadvantages==
===Toxicity===
[[Pesticide]] use can make insects unsuitable for human consumption. Herbicides can accumulate in insects through [[bioaccumulation]]. For example when [[locust]] outbreaks are treated by spraying, people can no longer eat them. This may pose a problem since edible plants have been consumed by the locusts themselves.<ref name=EofE/>
Cases of lead poisoning after consumption of [[chapulines]] were reported by the California Department of Health Services in November 2003<ref>{{cite web |publisher=California Department of Health Services |url=http://www.applications.dhs.ca.gov/pressreleases/store/PressReleases/03-92.html |title=State Health Department issues health warning on lead-contaminated chaplines (grasshoppers) |date=[[2003-11-13]] |accessdate=2006-12-16}}</ref> Adverse allergic reactions are also a possible hazard.<ref>{{cite journal |quotes=no |author=Joel Phillips & Wendell Burkholder |year=1995 |title=Allergies Related to Food Insect Production and Consumption |journal=Food Insect Allergies |volume=8 |issue=2 |url=http://www.hollowtop.com/finl_html/allergies.htm}}</ref>
===Cultural taboo===
[[Image:IMGP0320.JPG|200px|thumb|[[Casu marzu]].]] Within [[Western world|Western]] culture, entomophagy (barring [[honey]]) is seen as [[taboo food and drink|taboo]].<ref name=IaOoE>{{cite book |author=P. J. Gullan & P.S. Cranston | title=The Insects: an Outline of Entomology | publisher= [[Chapman and Hall]] | year=1994 | id=ISBN 1-405-11113-5}}</ref> There are some exceptions. [[Casu marzu]], for example, also called casu modde, casu cundhídu, or in Italian formaggio marcio, is a cheese made in [[Sardinia]] notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Casu marzu means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian and is known colloquially as maggot cheese. A scene in the [[Italy|Italian]] [[film]] ''[[Mondo Cane]]'' (1962) features an insect banquet for shock effect. Western avoidance of entomophagy coexists with the consumption of other invertebrates such as [[Crustacean|crustaceans]] and [[mollusks]], and is not based on taste or food value.<ref name=IaOoE/> Within [[Judaism]], most insects are not considered [[Kashrut|kosher]], though honey, [[locust]]s, [[grasshopper]]s and related species are.
The [[anthropologist]] [[Marvin Harris]] has suggested that the eating of insects is taboo in cultures that have other protein sources that require less work to obtain, like [[poultry|farm birds]] or [[cattle]], though there are cultures which feature both [[animal husbandry]] and entomophagy. Examples can be found in [[Botswana]], [[South Africa]] and [[Zimbabwe]] where strong cattle-raising traditions co-exist with entomophagy of insects like the [[Gonimbrasia belina|mopane worm]].
==Unintentional entomophagy==
Since it is impossible to entirely eliminate pest insects from the human food chain, insects are present in many foods, especially grains. [[Food laws]] in many countries do not prohibit insect parts in food, but rather, they limit the quantity. People in rice eating regions, for example, typically ingest significant numbers of rice weevil (''[[Sitophilus]] oryzae'') larvae, and this has been suggested as an important source of vitamins.<ref>{{cite book |author=R. L. Taylor |year=1975 |title=Butterflies in My Stomach (or: Insects in Human Nutrition) |publisher=Woodbridge Press Publishing Company, [[Santa Barbara, California]]}}</ref>
Here are examples of food products for humans, and their maximum permissible levels of insect contamination, according to the [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]]. Contamination below these maximum levels presents, according to the FDA, no health hazard.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Product
! Type of insect contamination
! Quantity
|-
| Canned [[sweet corn]]
| Insect larvae ([[Helicoverpa zea|corn ear worm]]s or [[corn borer]]s)
| 2 or more 3 mm or longer larvae, cast skins, larval or cast skin fragments, the aggregate length of insects or insect parts exceeds 12 mm in 24 pounds
|-
| Canned [[citrus]] fruit juices
| Insects and insect eggs
| 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml
|-
| Canned [[apricots]]
| Insect filth
| Average of 2% or more by count has been damaged or infected by insects
|-
| [[Chocolate]] and chocolate liquor
| Insect filth
| Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams (when 6 100 g subsamples are examined)
|-
| [[Peanut butter]]
| Insect filth
| Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
|-
| [[Wheat]] [[flour]]
| Insect filth
| Average of 150 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
|-
| Frozen [[broccoli]]
| Insects and mites
| Average of 60 or more aphids and/or thrips and/or mites per 100 grams
|-
| [[Hops]]
| Insects
| Average of more than 2,500 aphids per 10 grams
|-
| Ground [[thyme]]
| Insect filth
| Average of 925 or more insect fragments per 10 grams
|-
| Ground [[nutmeg]]
| Insect filth
| Average of 100 or more insect fragments per 10 grams
|-
| Ground [[cinnamon]]
| Insect filth
| Average of 80 or more insect fragments per 10 gram
|}
<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Food and Drug Administration|U. S. Food and Drug Administration]] |url=http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html |title=The Food Defect Action Levels |accessdate=2006-12-16}}</ref> ''See source for information on other food products.''
==References==
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
==Further reading==
* Holt, Vincent ''Why Not Eat Insects?'' 1885 Pamphlet [http://www.foodreference.com/html/artinsects0.html Full text of the 1885 pamphlet ''Why Not Eat Insects'' by Vincent Holt, with French cuisine recipes]
==See also==
* [[Casu marzu]]
* [[Ethnoentomology]]
* [[Insectivore]]
* [[Taboo food and drink]]
==External links==
{{commons|Entomophagy}}
*{{cite journal |quotes=no |url=http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19325952.600-the-word-edible-insects.html |journal=[[New Scientist]] |title=Edible insects |year=2007 |volume=2595 |pages=56 |author=Staff writer}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.food-insects.com/book7_31/The%20Human%20Use%20of%20Insects%20as%20a%20Food%20Resource.htm |title=The Human Use of Insects as a Food Resource: A Bibliographic Account in Progress |author=Gene R. DeFoliart |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] |date=[[2002-09-29]]}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.creepycrawlycooking.com/ |publisher=Creepy Crawly Cooking |title=Understanding the Role of Insects in Foods and Foodways |author=Jeff Stewart}}
*{{cite web |url=http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2160.html |title=Insects as Human Food |publisher=[[Ohio State University]] |author=William F. Lyon}}
*{{cite web |url=http://outside.away.com/magazine/0497/9704feeat.html |publisher=[[Outside (magazine)|Outside]] |title=It's Hard to Eat Just One |year=1997 |author=Ian Frazier}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/ythfacts/bugfood/yf813.htm |title=Insect Snacks from Around the World |publisher=[[University of Kentucky]] |author=Lana Unger |date=[[1999-01-20]]}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.food-insects.com/ |title=Insects as Food |author=Gene DeFoliart}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/06/29/how_many_insect_parts_and_rodent_hairs_are_allowed_in_your_food.htm |title=How many insect parts and rodent hairs are allowed in your food? |publisher=[[Sixwise.com]]}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/october/stinkbug.htm |title=Eat your bugs - harvesting edible stink-bugs |author=Rob Toms & Mashudu Thagwana |year=2003 |publisher=[[Science in Africa]]}}
*{{cite web |url=http://weeklywire.com/ww/04-05-99/austin_food_feature1.html |title=Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects |author=Peter Menzel & Faith D'Aluisio |year=1998 |publisher= Ten Speed Press ISBN 1580080227}}
*[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/magazine/10wwln-essay-t.html?ref=magazine "Man Bites Insect" by Sam Nejame New York Times Sunday Magazine February 10, 2008:]
*[http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/entomophagy_insect_eating/index.html Grow-a-brain website--Section on entomophagy with numerous recipes for insect dishes and color photos of the culinary results:]
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[[Category:Entomology]]
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