The new greenwashing of edible insects

Abstract

A new greenwashing is underway, i.e. facade ecologism, a communication strategy aimed at inducing the consumption of insects, distracting the consumer from the negative effects on the environment and on his health. What greenwashing attempts to overcome is the natural revulsion towards insects used as food. However, so far, possible allergies, the presence of antinutrients and other possible harmful effects on health have been little or not studied at all. Insects also host parasites. All this makes us understand why, millennia ago, many human communities renounced entomophagy as a prophylactic measure against diseases and infections; nor does the FAO inform us how and whether even the minimal and marginal consumption of insects has caused damage to the health of those populations whose food poverty pushes them to use insects and arthropods as small protein food supplements.