Welfare of farmed insects
[7] Insect welfare is currently not regulated in research settings, resulting in the frequent reporting of some low-welfare practices such as vivisection (live dissection of an animal without anesthetics) in the discipline.
[19] Robert Nathan Allen of the pro-entomophagy organization Little Herds feels that the welfare of insects is important, though he believes well managed farms can maintain high standards of care.
[21] For instance, World Ento uses the name "Good Karma Killing" to describe its process of freezing insects into a stasis state,[22] but this method is not expected to produce a humane death according to the American Veterinary and Medical Association.
[27] Accordingly, animal welfare scientists have suggested that insect farmers may care about insect welfare for social and economical reasons, such as consumer confidence in the industry's adherence to high ethical standards for animal rearing, maintaining their social license to operate, and brand differentiation opportunities that increase industry maturation.
[14] Recently, several comprehensive and open access review papers have been published that cover the likely welfare concerns for black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens),[31] yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor),[32] and three species of farmed crickets (Acheta domesticus, Gryllus bimaculatus, Gryllodes sigillatus),[33] as well as some work on the housefly (Musca domestica).
[31] Farmed insects may be provided with homogenous feeds that lack macronutrient profiles self-selected by the animals; this may play a role in promoting cannibalism in species like the yellow mealworm.
[32] Nutritional enrichments, such as dietary diversity, can support brain development in crickets but may not be provided depending on the farm's available feedstock.
For instance, larger cages and specific wavelengths of light are essential for the natural behaviors of adult black soldier fly breeders.
[31] Temperature and humidity must be carefully controlled or excess mortality, and putative welfare harms, will result for most insect species.
Jagran raises housefly larvae for use as animal feed and report that humidity needs to be carefully controlled to avoid dehydrating or drowning the insects.
[18] For example, lethal overheating is a problem in black soldier fly and yellow mealworm larvae that are reared in dense aggregations within insulating substrates.
[37][31][32][33] For example, Acheta domesticus densovirus resulted in millions of dollars in lost product and some farms losing their entire livestock population in outbreaks that have spanned 35 years of industry history in North America and the United States.
For instance, the company Van de Ven had a pathogen outbreak that killed all of its Zophobas morio beetle larvae, and the breeders hypothesized that the disease may have been brought by human visitors.
[14] Accordingly, the International Platform for Insects as Food and Feed have developed guidance on hygiene procedures for farms with the goal of protecting consumer and animal health.
Stress may result from rough handling, washing and immersion in water, or transport (e.g., during shipping), which may in some cases contribute to mortality.
[33] Inbreeding depression can result in reduced physical health for farmed insects and producers generally make efforts to maintain a more genetically diverse population.
[40] Insects may be fed toxin-contaminated grains or plastics/polymers that may reduce their health, depending on the level of inclusion and specific types of these ingredients used (though this is not expected to be common practice in the industry currently).
[31] Photophobic insect larvae, or crickets of any life stage, may not be able to avoid or escape lights during some parts of rearing or processing.
[14] FAO's "Edible insects" report suggests: "Insect-killing methods that would reduce suffering include freezing or instantaneous techniques such as shredding.
[45] Insects may also be sold live for food purposes, and thus effectively slaughtered by the end human consumer prior to eating.
[53] For instance, bearded dragons can be fed dead crickets by hiding them in other food, dangling them with tongs, squirting them with water, or vibrating a bowl.
