Have you every wondered how people can eat mealworms? First of all they are very high in protein, having the same amino acids and traces of Omega 3 as beef and pork. They also produce less greenhouse gas emissions and take up less space than big animals like cows and pigs. There are no known cases of transmission of diseases or parasitoids to humans from the consumption of insects, on the condition that the insects were handled under the same sanitary conditions as any other food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the united states. Wageningen University in the Netherlands discovered that mealworms use less fossil fuels and were calculated to be more vitamin rich than milk and even other meat products.
Additionally, farms do need to use energy to heat mealworms
when ambient (all around) temperatures drop. They also don’t produce methane like in cow flatulence. Population is rising and with all the variables mealworms are probably the most viable source of energy and protein, also the most cost effective.
But food isn't the only reason these little guys are useful, they are also an amazing fertilizer. Mealworm frass is excrement and exoskeleton naturally gathered and used to make fertilizer. Frass contains chitin which triggers an immune response in plant cell walls making the plant stronger and able to help fight off disease, fungal issues and damage from pests done in a study by Princeton university. All in all, mealworms are the future of agriculture and could help out the ecosystem a lot. Hopefully they are tasty.
Article by Kayden Bartunek