Insects Could Be The Dogfood Of The Future

I’ve eaten grasshoppers a few times in the last couple of years. They are a great source of protein and vitamins that have an exponentially smaller impact on the environment than traditional meat sources. So far, the foods I’ve tasted have been OK, but I’m not exactly jumping back for seconds (no pun intended). Either way, it’s hard to deny the link between meat consumption and CO2 and Methane emissions that leak into our atmosphere. What many people don’t even realize, however, is that 20% of the meat consumed in the world is consumed by our pets.

Now, the BBC is reporting that Yora, a pet food manufacturer that will be swapping out at least 40% of the protein in their new dog food with meat from black soldier flies. The only question left to answer is whether your doggos can survive on a flies.

According to Pet diet expert at the Royal Veterinary College, Aarti Kathrani, the evidence just isn’t in yet.

“Insects can be a very useful source of protein. More studies are needed to show how much of these nutrients can actually be absorbed by a dog’s body— but some studies suggest that insects can provide nutrients for dogs.”

The really interesting thing is that if this does take off, it creates a whole new problem. Most of the meat that currently goes into dog food is the offal (guts) that humans don’t tend to eat as much of. If the dogs start eating bugs, we are going to find ourselves with mountains of hearts, livers, and cow buttholes and nothing to do with them.

As for cats, they aren’t really part of the conversation. It turns out that they are so picky about their food that there is a question as to whether they’d even be willing to give it a try.

Source: Inhabitat