Insects or meat? A comparative study by Life Cycle Assessment

This paper evaluates the environmental sustainability of insect production by comparing it with the two most traditional animal protein sources, namely beef and poultry meat. The assessment was carried out through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), considering 1 kg of protein as a functional unit, using Simapro 9.2 quantitative software. The results show that edible insects have the potential to become a major source of human nutrition as they could be produced more sustainably than both beef and poultry meat. Specifically, insect-based protein production is more sustainable than that of the other protein sources considered, in all impact categories compared to red meat and in 16 out of 18 impact categories compared to white meat. In detail, insect production emits about 6.5 times less global warming than red meat and 2.04 than white meat, as well as requiring 4.5 times less land than red meat and 1.17 times less land than white meat. But insect-based protein also requires 2.87 times less water than red meat and 1.82 times less water than white meat. These data, then, show how in general insects could be an interesting, more sustainable source of protein than conventional protein from animals