Creepy Crawlies: Eating insects may cause allergies
updated the 14 July 2015 à 18:31For years, we have been told repeatedly that insects will soon be an integral part of our daily diet. While we are already sad about the idea of eating tiny creatures with lots of legs, a report produced by the health authorities points towards the risks of allergies
Are you tempted by an insect starter on your dinner table? After all, it is said that soon we will eat them at almost every meal. Indeed, to be able to feed everyone on the planet by 2030, the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture has stated that this is favourable to the large-scale breeding of insects. Yummy!
ALLERGENIC INSECTS?
While we already find roasted locusts in hypermarkets, the French health authorities decided to realise a current inventory of the dangers linked to the consumption of insects. What’s more, their conclusions should not reassure the sceptics who already have difficulty swallowing a barbecued spider skewer. According to the French health authorities, there are numerous problems with munching on insects. First of all, there are the issues connected to their chemical substances: poisons, anti-nutritional factors, veterinary medicine used in the breeding of insects, pesticides or organic pollutants in the environment or the food of insects, etc. Then, it is necessary to avoid choking on the hard parts of the tiny creature, such as its sting. But more worrisome (with the exception of contamination by viruses, mushrooms or bacteria) are the potential allergies.
Indeed, insects have common allergens with all the arthropods (mites, crustaceans, molluscs). The risk of an allergic reaction following ingestion is thus far from being unimportant for a large part of the population.
So maybe we should reconsider including these critters in our diet.
Maureen Diament
