Browsing by Author "Rostiala, Nina"

According to FAO edible insects would be a solution to feed the growing amount of people in the world. Insects have been collected traditionally from the natural environments. In Finland insects have become a commercial food ingredient since 2017. House cricket is one example of insect species reared. Insects are considered as an ethical option to substitute meat as a protein source. This research evaluates ethical aspects of wild harvested and farmed insects, and how the ethical aspects may differ. The research was reported as a narrative review. Publications used in this study consisted of 16 research articles, reports and books that were chosen according to specific keywords. All sources of the study were published between years 2001–2018. Ethical aspects of edible insects were evaluated by nature conservation, human rights and animal welfare. Positive aspects were found at greenhouse gas production and land use compared with livestock. It´s also ecological to use biowaste on feeding insects. Insects produce less food waste than livestock. Negative aspects were energy consumption at insect farming, and disadvantages to natural habitats at wild harvesting. There were some inequalities between developing and developed countries at insect business. Positive issues were livelihood opportunities that both insect farming and wild harvesting offers for poor members of the societies. It´s not clear if invertebrates suffer or not. Therefore animal welfare aspect was difficult to evaluate. There are different ethical aspects depending on the origin of edible insects. Generally eating insects is more ethical than eating other livestock animals, but some unethical aspects are also found at insect harvesting. It´s important to know multiple dimensions concerning nature, humans and animals so that disadvantages can be reduced in the future.