Westerners Still Don’t Want To Eat Insects – But Their Pets Don’t Mind

When will Westerners embrace the crispy taste of insects? It’s a question habitually pondered by articles and scientific reviews. What are the strategies to convince consumers to eat insects? one 2023 review asked. Eating insects makes sense. So why don’t we? wondered Imperial College London researchers.

At this point, there are almost certainly more articles anticipating the arrival of insect-based foods than there are insect-based food brands sitting on supermarket shelves. Because, despite the academic interest, consumers still aren’t salivating at the thought of locust-burgers.

Pets, on the other hand, salivate at the sight of most things edible. Unburdened by squeamishness, our four-legged house-animals could well be the saving market for the six-legged industry. Global sales of insect-based pet food touched $7 billion in 2021. The sector was valued at $8.31 billion only 2 years later, and is predicted to reach USD 16.72 billion by 2031.

So, perhaps the relevant question is: when will your pet start eating insects?

Pet bugs

“I think it’s true that cultural barriers and ‘yuck factors’ remain strong in the Western world when it comes to human consumption of insects. However, regulations and perceptions are more flexible when it comes to using insects for animal feed,” Dr. Pattanapong Tiwasing, an assistant professor in sustainable innovation at the University of Nottingham, told Technology Networks.

With a focus on the sustainable qualities of the industry – low carbon output, little agricultural land use, etc., – Tiwasing has written several papers on the promise of insect protein. His most recent was published this July in the Journal of Insects as Food and Feed.

“In my research, I found that pet food offers a more immediate and scalable opportunity for insect-derived proteins,” he said. “The pet food industry, especially in the UK and EU, has been more open to exploring sustainable alternatives, with an increasing focus on eco-friendly and novel protein sources.”

“In particular, black soldier fly larvae have already been incorporated into pet food, and several products are now on shelves in the UK market. Consumers seem more comfortable with the idea of feeding insects to their pets than consuming them themselves.”

The black soldier fly is a common bug of choice among insect protein producers, given that the insect’s larvae can be entirely fed on organic waste. Once fattened up, the larvae can then be sold to pet food manufacturers or, more commonly, farms and aquafarms to be used as feed for chickens, pigs and fish.

“There is growing interest in using insect protein for livestock, aquaculture feeds or other value-added products link fertiliser, which could have a significant impact globally, particularly as we look for ways to reduce the environmental footprint of conventional animal feed,” said Tiwasing.

“I hope this shift can help build a foundation for normalising insects as a food source for humans, though that transition will take more time in Western markets.”

Western fussiness

Westerners are a bit of an outlier when it comes to creepy-crawly cuisine. Many other regions, from south America to southeast Asia, have prized insect delicacies. In southern Mexico, young grasshoppers are deep-fried and stuffed into corn tortillas to form crunchy chapulines. In Thailand, fried crickets are a ubiquitous street food snack known as jing leed.

This familiarity, said Tiwasing, means such regions are better primed to expand insect food into a fully-fledged, industrial sector for human consumers – if local producers can source the infrastructure.

“In regions like Asia, Africa and Latin America, where insects are already part of traditional diets, the sector has the potential for faster growth,” he said. “However, expanding production in these areas presents challenges. Many local producers face barriers, such as a lack of technological infrastructure and the skills needed to produce more advanced insect-based products.”

“Additionally, scaling up production can be costly for some, which limits their ability to grow. Moreover, establishing safety standards and improving supply chains will be key to making insect protein more accessible and affordable. These improvements will also be important if producers aim to export their products globally.”

Back in the West, consumer appetite for industrial insect food may be harder to find, but it’s not unheard of. Indeed, according to Camila Baptista da Silva, a PhD student at Ghent University, there’s a growing curiosity among the younger generations, particularly those who already feed their pets insect food: “While there’s still some hesitation in the Western world around eating insects, our research – compared to earlier studies – shows that attitudes are starting to shift, especially among younger and middle-aged consumers who seem more willing to give insect-based products a try.”

Published in the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition this July, Baptista da Silva’s research found that 32% of surveyed dog owners and 34% of cat owners reported prior experience with eating edible insects themselves. These experiences – which were seemingly positive ones – increased the likelihood of the owners putting their pets on a six-legged diet.

“This openness is also showing up in how people think about feeding insects to their pets,” Baptista da Silva told Technology Networks. “In our survey, we found that people who are interested in trying insects themselves are also more likely to be open to feeding insect-based pet food to their pets. So, there’s definitely a growing curiosity that’s translating into this area as well. Based on our findings, insect-derived pet food looks like a very promising niche.”

“One particularly interesting insight we found is that cat owners seem more accepting of insect-based pet food compared to dog owners,” she added. “While we didn’t dive deep into why this is the case, I suspect it might be because many cat owners often see their cats hunting and eating bugs, so insects might seem like a more ‘natural’ ingredient for them.”

Baptista da Silva’s work showed that, when it comes to edible insects in the West, pet food and human food may be more interconnected than previously assumed. For some human consumers, this culinary interest might be just a novelty. Nonetheless, as more people choose to feed their pets insect food, the novelty of consuming the bugs themselves may just slowly turn into a routine.

“In summary,” said Baptista da Silva, “while the pet food industry is definitely making strides with insect-based products, it’s also possible that the growing interest in humans eating insects could help push the pet food sector forward. As people become more comfortable with the idea of eating insects themselves, they may also feel more inclined to feed these products to their pets, creating a trend that benefits both markets.”