Edible Insect Feed Reduces The Need For Antibiotics When Raising Livestock
By now the entire western world should be aware that eating insects is the new hip trend. This is a positive trend indeed as edible insects are the best choice when it comes to healthy eating. We have heard all about the health benefits involved with edible insects, but we do not hear much about the potential use of insects as a form of animal feed. This is understandable, as this particular topic may not seem interesting to your average internet surfer, but researchers have recently uncovered several benefits of edible insect feed for animals, and what they are learning should be known by everyone. For example, it has been demonstrated that insect feed can improve the immune systems of farm animals, which means that antibiotic injections are less important when feeding animals insects as feed. This is important research as many people have a problem consuming animal meat that has been exposed to antibiotics. It seems that feeding farm animals insects is just as important as it is for humans to switch to an insect based diet.
Researchers have recently published a study concerning insects as an animal feed alternative. The results of the study have come as a surprise to some, but edible insect proponents believe that all of the benefits of edible insects known to modern science are only the tip of the iceberg. Amazingly, a component in an insect’s exoskeleton has been shown to improve immune function in animals. Most, if not all arthropods possess significant amounts of chitin on their outer bodies. Crustaceans, like shrimp have been shown to improve the immune systems of broilers (chickens raised solely for consumption). An experiment had a broilers being fed chitin-rich shrimp. It was later discovered that the chitin decreased the amount of food-borne pathogens in raised broilers. These pathogens included Escherichia coli and Salmonella. Their immune systems were also more robust and they were generally healthier in every respect. This could reduce the cost of having to inject farm animals with antibiotics, and the public would no doubt be pleased with this change.
Do you think that antibiotics could eventually become unnecessary if livestock were fed insect meal for several generations?
