Scientist pushing insects as food source

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The search for sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly foods of the future should include edible insects, a Dutch scientist says.

Arnold Van Huis says insects have more protein than beef, contain little fat, are high in some vitamins, and raising them is less harmful to the environment than raising cows, sheep and pigs.

Still, Van Huis acknowledges, they're not to everybody's taste.

"The European consumer has some difficulties in crunching a whole insect," he told EUobserver Wednesday.

The world has about 1,800 edible insect species, and Van Huis said rising food prices, huge increases in the world population and the pressure for yet more farmland means "people are really looking for alternatives."

The Dutch Agricultural Ministry has given Van Huis $1.4 million for research on extracting protein from insects, which would provide the world with a protein source without the somewhat off-putting visual element of insects as food.