What is an insect?

About 80% of the 1,600,000 animal species have been identified, belong to Arthropoda phylum. The group of insects in the Arthropoda phylum are the most diverse and populated. None of the animal groups has spread as much as insects on the earth. Insects can be found in all ecosystems in the world and all climate zones.

Importance of breeding insects

According to the FAO estimate, the world's population will increase by 70% by 2050, and the Earth will host almost 9 billion people. The scarcity of earth's resources and climate changes can have negative consequences for the food production industry. Since 7% of all greenhouse gases can be attributed to growing crops for livestock feed, we should Look for more sustainable and high-quality food alternatives that put less pressure on the earth. In this regard, in recent years, large commercial companies producing livestock, poultry,
aquatic, and human food have focused on breeding insects including Ynsect Protix,  Algenex, Tenebrio,  Hexafly, Agriprotein Entomo Farm.
Some of the benefits of insect breeding are as follows:

•  Insects are rich sources of protein, zinc, iron, vitamins and minerals.
• Insects have higher food conversion efficiency.
• Insects emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia than livestock and require significantly less environment and water than livestock.
• They don't increase the risk of zoonosis disease
• Insects can be fed with waste and garbage and reduce environmental contamination.
• Insects can cheaply and efficiently convert wastes into complex fat and protein and convert them into an ideal food source for aquaculture and poultries.
• The cost of setting up an insect breeding farm is one-third of the cost of building a livestock farm.
• Insect body cells can be used to produce proteins needed to produce vaccines and medicines.

Suitable insects for breeding

Insects have historically been consumed by tribes, and indigenous and are today consumed in tropical countries (Africa, Asia, America, and Latin America) as part of their diet and as a source of food for domestic and birds in developed countries (Netherlands, Europe, and America). Currently, more than 2000 species of edible insects have been identified and are consumed in 113 countries. It is estimated that at least 2 billion people worldwide consume insects in their diet. Most of the edible insects are collected in nature and the most common family of edible insects are:

Hermetia lucent
Musca domestica
Tenebrio molitor
Acheta domesticus
Grasshoppers
Hymenoptera
Odonata

Globally, the most common insects consumed are beetles (Coleoptera, 31%) because this group is about 40% of all known species of insects (Figure 1). Contrary to the presence of insects in nature and people's traditional knowledge of them, industrial mass production of insects and their processing for food is still a new knowledge in the international community. On the other hand, the necessary legislation for progress in production has not been done yet.