A research blog at SLU, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
We have published two papers on the occurrence of viruses in crickets that are reared for food and feed. They show that there a several viruses present, where some can have serious impacts on individual health and reproduction.
Virus Diversity and Loads in Crickets Reared for Feed: Implications for Husbandry
We have a new paper in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The paper describes the lack of knowledge to make the field of insects-as-food sustainable. We highlight major areas that should be focused on and what research needs to be carried out: Approaching ecological sustainability in the emerging insects-as-food industry
We have recently published a paper on a new and efficient way to screen for the detrimental virus AdDV in crickets see. Read our paper here!
From the “Foodology day” (below) we have a photo on the cricket dish and the recipe created by the famous Swedish chef Paul Svensson. Looks tasty doesn’t it?
Just out is our paper were we point out specifics for insect rearing facilities on different scales, and a way forward how these can be developed. Read our paper here!
Today we participate in the annual (“Foodology day”) in central Stockholm Matologidag http://matologi.nu. This is a large event open for all, where research and knowledge about food is presented. We have one of Swedens most famous chefs Paul Svensson that have made dishes from our crickets. Come and see us, check out our research and those dishes!
Doug Hunter’s masters thesis that we have mentioned below have received a fair bit of attention and have been mentioned on SLU’s homepage. We are happy about that!
Douglas Hunter has recently defended his MSc thesis Feeding the 45 million:
Substituting soybean protein with insect protein within EU poultry & egg production
at the Department of Ecology, SLU. His thesis shows that there is a possibility of massive land winnings with a substitution from soybean meal to insects reared on food bi-products in the poultry industry. Such change in feed could reduce the existing land-convertion pressure on forests to become agricultural land around the globe.
Today we had a talk at the SCB (Society for Conservation Biology) European conference in Jyväskylä Finland with the title “Towards a sustainable insect food production system”. You can find the abstract here.
We wish our new Post Doc Laura Riggi welcome! Laura has a background in research on insect biodiversity in production landscapes and will start to work with us in the beginning of September. She will work with questions on how we can enhance our landscapes to increase biodiversity and at the same time grow feed for food-insects. Interesting studies ahead!