Present and Future Prospects on Nutritious Feeding Using Insects

Limited and challenging food resources initiate opening of new vistas of new food items and can be served to the human diet without any precedence. There is a long historical relationship between insects and human civilization that extends back to antiquity. Several developed as well as developing countries such as US, UK, Europe, Asia, etc., utilize edible insects as food which represent a novelty or snack food to a considerable extent evidenced by their food products. Insects meet the human nutritional requirements and are high in protein and mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Certain carbohydrates mainly chitin and minerals such as K, Na, Ca, Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn, and P and vitamins are also favoring edible insects as a brilliant nutrition diet of humans. In this chapter, the nutritional performance of insect feed/edible insects and their current environmental aspects with socioeconomic reflections are highlighted.