INTERVIEW 36 Alternative Proteins Magazine April 2024 Insects are attracting more and more interest and investment as a new and exciting way in the circular food chain. Wageningen University & Research supports this interest with knowledge through its Summer School Insects as Food and Feed. In this summer school, anyone interested in the topic can discover the challenges and opportunities of rearing insects for sustainable consumption and animal feed, and learn about the optimal production design and facilities needed to farm and process insect protein. More resources are needed to feed the growing world population, but the world's resources are limited. Moreover, the negative environmental impacts of our current methods of both plant and animal food production increase the pressure on these limited resources. This problem has led people to turn to sustainable alternative sources and to look a little closer at insects. Prof. Dr. Ir. Arnold van Huis from Wageningen University & Research comments on this situation as follows: "The realization that insects can be used either for human consumption or for animal feed in the Western world is very recent. Insects in the tropics have been harvested from nature and consumed already for a very long time. This was erroneously considered by westerners as a primitive habit. It is now recognized that insects are very nutritious, safe to eat and can be produced with much lower environmental impact than our common meat products." However, for insects to be a truly sustainable alternative, industrial-scale production and the training of people who will do it are needed. The opening of a summer school on insects at Wageningen University addresses this need. Prof. van Huis, who spearheaded the Summer School on Insects as Food and Feed, explains the need for education and the driving force behind the idea to organize a summer school as follows: "To exploit this food source, we need to rear them in large quantities. It was in 2014 that we published the FAO report ‘Edible insects, future prospects for food and feed security’. The book was downloaded millions of times and triggered interest worldwide. Being the main author of this publication, I thought about how to spread the message about this new food and feed source. Ten years ago, the knowledge of how to rear and process insects was rudimentary as well as the knowledge about environmental impact, nutrition, food safety, consumer attitudes, marketing, etc. WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY SUPPORTS THE INSECT INDUSTRY WITH EDUCATION
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