11–20 of 495 posts
Possibly like any other food source, then? Boils down to how they're grown, handled, prepared. Arguably, the wet markets in Wuhan wouldn't have been such a disease nightmare if the cages of live animals weren't kept one atop the other, dripping feces and other fluids between species and breaking the inter-species barrier.
Wetmarkets are diverse.
"Parasitic developmental forms were detected in 244 (81.33%) out of 300 (100%) examined insect farms. In 206 (68.67%) of the cases, the identified parasites were pathogenic for insects only; in 106 (35.33%) cases, parasites were potentially parasitic for animals; and in 91 (30.33%) cases, parasites were potentially pathogenic for humans. " Sounds horrific. How does this compare to other food sources?
We've been eating other foods for a very long time, and we've developed methods to handle, and prevent, the parasites. Cook meat, make sure fruits and vegetables are not blighted, ferment dairy, various preservation methods from pickling to canning to smoking. The list of methods is enormous. We haven't been eating insects except in times of famine. We have not yet developed methods of dealing with it.
I lived and worked in Zambia for a while, and there — and possibly in many other countries in Africa — it was common to eat ants, grasshoppers, and caterpillars when they were in season. I never had the chance to taste the caterpillars — and it would probably have been a challenge for me — but the fried grasshoppers and ants were delicious.
The article at https://askentomologists.com/2015/02/09/why-dont-we-eat-bugs... suggests that eating insects is a “tropical” thing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We've been eating other foods for a very long time, and we've developed methods to handle, and prevent, the parasites. Cook meat, make sure fruits and vegetables are not blighted, ferment dairy, various preservation methods from pickling to canning to smoking. The list of methods is enormous. We haven't been eating insects except in times of famine. We have not yet developed methods of dealing with it.
Who are the “we” you are referring to? “Western civilization”? I lived and worked in Zambia for a while, and there — and possibly in many other countries in Africa — it was common to eat ants, grasshoppers, and caterpillars when they were in season. I never had the chance to taste the caterpillars — and it would probably have been a challenge for me — but the fried grasshoppers and ants were delicious. The article at…
Possibly like any other food source, then? Boils down to how they're grown, handled, prepared. Arguably, the wet markets in Wuhan wouldn't have been such a disease nightmare if the cages of live animals weren't kept one atop the other, dripping feces and other fluids between species and breaking the inter-species barrier.
Where do you get your information from? Have you seen that wetmarket? It looked pretty clean to me. Wetmarkets are diverse.
This, Seaweeds, and directed precise fermentation are a big part of the 10B+ people solution.
[1] https://www.rebelnews.com/worlds_largest_cricket_farm_finish...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the brakes should be slammed until that is answered. Unless we want another pandemic. Given the rate of mutation and transmission in bugs with natural gestation and migration, the probability of catastrophic outcomes is exponential without a similar dataset in other human food sources.
> [...] the probability of catastrophic outcomes is exponential [...] What does that even mean? Do you want to say that the probability is high?
Should we not believe the research above to contain 1/3 insects tested carried pathogenic parasites? Does this not strike you as extreme. Potentially an order or orders of magnitude more dangerous?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the brakes should be slammed until that is answered. Unless we want another pandemic. Given the rate of mutation and transmission in bugs with natural gestation and migration, the probability of catastrophic outcomes is exponential without a similar dataset in other human food sources.
> [...] the probability of catastrophic outcomes is exponential [...] What does that even mean? Do you want to say that the probability is high?
The lethality of of that type of outbreak become stronger the longer the we ignore that threat.
It’s just pure Maths to be honest.
It's good that we don't have to eat the bugs. Pods are still on the menu though.