Dining on edible insects instead of beef or Lamb steaks could play a role in reducing harmful gas emissions in the atmosphere. This is a stomach crunching remedy to cut on harmful gasses associated with livestock production.
Diet replacement of livestock with edible insects like mealworms or crickets by 50 percent will cut farmland pasture by one-third of its use and will considerably deduct carbon dioxide emission, researchers found in their study.
Researchers further add that there is great resistance from consumers with edible insects on the dining table, but a little increase in its consumption would help in the reduction of harmful gasses into the air. Ingredient mixes are one way to infuse edible insects to the diet.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization have data that shows the result of meat production against the alternative edible insect as a source of food. In the study by food technologists at the University of Edinburgh and Scotland's Rural College, the researcher made a model scenario of what if half of the meat supply is replaced by edible insects, lab-grown meat and imitation meat made from plants.
The study shows that edible insects and lab grown imitation meat like soya based meat texture such as tofu, are the most sustainable as they don't need a vast tract of land that is required to maintain, unlike cattle and their pastures. Besides greenhouse emissions, cattle have other environmental impacts to the environment. On a global scale, pasture spreads twice as much as croplands and livestock devour one-third of the crops produced, reports Science Newsline.
Research of this study is in the journal "Global Food Security". The study has the support of the UK's Global Food Security Program and the European Union's Seventh Framework Program, reports Science Daily.
Lead researcher Dr. Peter Alexander of the University of Edinburgh and Scotland's Rural College said that the demands of food alternatives are on the rise to feed the multitude and to save the environment. The study will lead to the best selection of food type alternative while cutting down greenhouse emissions.
