Consultation on transitional arrangements for edible insects in Great Britain

[jansman]

I did wonder if there is a bit of professional rejection jansman? There is certainly a logic to using insects ( millions of people already eat them ) but to a skilled butcher like yourself there's not going to be much filleting to be done on a mealworm. In a similar vein as a joiner I can understand the logic of using waste in the form of chipboard but I'll be buggered if I want the furniture in my house made out of that shite...

Truth? I would sooner be vegetarian. That’s the truth. I worked for a butcher that was a fishmonger too some years ago. A Jewish ( good ) customer commented upon the crabs and lobsters we were selling. She called them ‘scavengers’ according to her belief.

[grenfell]

Fish are basically swimming in diluted sewage of their and our making , organic vegetables grow in excrement , non organic grow in a soup of chemicals , food processing adds sugar , salt and a load more other chemicals , there's even some advances on "growing meat completely free of an animal . There's a yuk factor to practically everything if we want to be squeamish.
Whether one person will eat insects or not is though I think largely irrelevant. We get these "revolutions" in agriculture when a current system can't meet the needs. Food security is raising it's head , starvation is likely to be inevitable for some parts of the world despite some saying we could feed 10 billion...

[Mad Scientist]

As long as the insects were raised in a hygienic environment and fed correctly I would try a few different things. I’ll try most reasonable things once. Nothing will replace a good Sunday dinner though!

[jansman]

Nothing is perfect. I would be happier to go and shoot a pigeon or rabbit,or catch a fish ( they can be kept live to flush them out if there’s a worry about sewage). Eating grasshoppers and cockroaches ain’t on my radar. Mind you,one man’s wombat p*ss is another man’s real ale!

https://youtu.be/fRye6tvRclc

[grenfell]

Don't we already have some insects or parts of insects in our diet albeit to a very small amount and probably not even that with cheaper foods.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal
Then there's bee vomit , erm I mean honey.

Revisiting my earlier post I'm now more inclined to think they would be aimed at the gourmet end of the market , sold as exotic novelty foods , partly because I would say the majority wouldn't relish the idea and producers would have to get a return on their investments. Bargain basement sausages and burgers might not see a quick enough return.

[Vitamin c]

If you look at the ever growing vegetarian /vegan section in the supermarket not much looks like a vegetable it's all trying to look like meat products , mince ,burgers, sausages and the like they will do the same with insects.

[Ara]

GillyBee: the biblical "locusts" may have been locust beans rather than the insects. Nevertheless, I won't be first in the queue to try any.

[grenfell]

Continuing the biblical references I seem to vaguely recall the manna from heaven eaten by the jews leaving Egypt was insect based. Wikipedia says this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna

[Vega-J]

I don't see the point in this at all. We dont need protein from insects as we can live well on plant based proteins. With climate change and new plant breeding we can now grow soy beans, lupins, a wide range of beans and peas in this country.

My opinion is that we need to change our agriculture in the UK to promote crops like hemp before we look at insect farming

[Nurseandy]

The Finns have been at it a while-

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 76881.html

From 2017.